[listen] Solange – “Lovers In The Parking Lot”

Nov 22, 2012

“Lovers In The Parking Lot” is the second of two very strong singles from Solange, who is bringing timeless, dependably pop vocals to a totally different arena. Her singing comes from the kind of soul-melting R&B that major labels have funnelled millions into, in the hopes that young girls will sing it in the mirror, and older guys will mumble along in the car, hoping that no one’s watching. Her gentle and commanding crooning allows us to once again imagine that we’re heartbreakers whose ways have caught up with them, one of pop’s most classic tropes. But what helps make the track so intriguing past the mastery of pop is the music she sings over, the svelte and hip 90s R&B she’s cooked up with Dev Hynes of Blood Orange. Her vocals bring the sort of radio-friendly veneer to the lush, venerable sounds that Hynes could only pay cheeky homage to with Blood Orange. It’s something genuinely new and exciting in the sphere of reassembled musical signifiers, and we’ll see how far she takes it when her EP True drops November 27th via Terrible Records.