Roberto Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro, has signed to the storied indie label 4AD following an accomplished decade-plus discography with Sufjan Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty label and RVNGIntl — most recently, 2019’s great This Is How You Smile and this past summer’s Kite Symphony EP, a collaboration with visual artist Kristi Sword crafted in Lange’s current home base of Marfa, Texas. His first song for 4AD is a cover of “Lotta Love,” the song from Neil Young’s 1978 LP Comes A Time, better known as a top-10 hit for Nicolette Larson around the same time.
Lange recruited a lot of indie-rock superfriends for his “Lotta Love” cover. It’s billed as a duet with Flock Of Dimes, aka Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, and it also features contributions from Devendra Banhart, Adron, and Trey Pollard. In a press release, Lange writes that he covered “Lotta Love” with the US election and various global crises in mind: “I was captivated by the song’s sincerity and wondered how to make a version that compelled you to step closer to the words. I wanted it to be hymnal and spiritual outside of religion. I interpreted the theme of the song to be about protection. How do we protect each other? Creating this version helped me find some sonic respite and hopefully it does the same for others.”
Listen below.
“Lotta Love” is out now on 4AD.
