Helado Negro and Reyna Tropical open tour behind joint album "Helado Tropical"

Helado Negro and Reyna Tropical released their joint debut album, "Helado Tropical," in July and open their first national tour together Thursday, Aug. 13, at The Ford, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The project pairs Roberto Lange, who records as Helado Negro, with Fabi Reyna of Reyna Tropical, and grew out of a one-off studio session. "It was real-time creation more than anything," Lange said. "Fabi and I would take turns, I'd play a synthesizer melody and she would strum guitar chords, searching for rhythmic ideas."

Reyna said the sense that they had formed a band arrived quickly. "It hit us by the end of the first session," she said. "We reached a point where we were both really inspired."

The album marks Reyna's first new material since the 2022 death of her musical partner, Nectali Diaz, and its most personal songs, including "Tocando" and "Dejate Caer," are rooted in that loss. "In the studio, I had a lot of moments where I felt totally alone, but what comforted me was our creative process," Reyna said of "Sensacion," her favorite song on the record.

Lange said he doesn't chase a single genre label for the project. "I don't really feel like we fall into these genre scenes," he said, while Reyna described the sound as growing out of border culture and a drive toward songs "for and by Black and brown experiences."

The tour will mix "Helado Tropical" songs with material from each artist's solo catalog, plus what Lange called "some mystery." "I promise that it will be curated," Reyna said. "The shows will always be for the people."

MusicSuey tracks the album alongside other new Latin, R&B and soul and electronic releases on the release calendar, and follows the run on the tour guide.