Boston’s Black El’s “Store Hours” feels like the direct lineage of 808’s and Heartbreak, lightly effected vocals over airy, funky production bemoaning a break up in progress.
“I wrote ‘Store Hours’ when I was going through a hard time with my past relationship,” says El. “It had it’s ups and downs like any relationship, but then it got to the point where we never really showed our emotions with each other or let the other person in unless we were drunk or high. We went through periods where one of us would be extremely open, and the other was closed off, we would switch back and forth for a long time. We were two stores with completely different hours of operation.”
“Store Hours” deals in the hazy recasting of late ’70s and early ’80s funk that typified El’s album L_ST at its best—a successful exercise in building mood, lyrics, vocals, and production all serving to explore substance-fueled relationship woes.
