When Roberto Carlos Lange, the musician known as Helado Negro, began writing Far In immediately following the release of his acclaimed 2019 This is How You Smile, he could not have predicted that we would soon need to learn how to stay at home and be the stars of our domestic dance floors with intimates and online communities. The titular pair in “Gemini and Leo” stay indoors to discover each other anew with music recalling Lange’s youth growing up in South Florida listening to 80s club songs, and their return sampled in 90s hip hop. Visions past and future meet in a euphoria of uptempo drums, Jen Wasner’s (Flock of Dimes) funky bass line, and Opal Hoyt’s (Zenizen) galactic swirl of warm and steely synths and bright backing vocals. What was a prophesying rehearsal for the musician, we can hope will soon be our fresh start, a choice to bring that energy home, or go out to meet it.
