Quiet Storm Reggae
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Reggae tailored to the late-night, quiet-storm radio format: slow to mid-tempo, sensual and smooth, with hushed, seductive lead vocals, glossy keyboards, soft horns and a mellow one-drop or lovers-rock groove meant for after-hours listening. Production is warm, uncluttered and adult, the arrangements unhurried and intimate. The mood is candlelit and romantic, the reggae equivalent of a Smokey Robinson or Sade slow jam. Music for the small hours.
History
As American urban radio's quiet-storm format spread in the 1980s, reggae's smoothest romantic singers supplied a Caribbean counterpart: Gregory Isaacs's cool, narcotic "Night Nurse," Beres Hammond's velvet balladry, Maxi Priest's crossover slow jams and later Wayne Wonder's silky lovers-dancehall all fit the late-night mood. Producers polished lovers rock and romantic reggae into an adult, seductive register aimed at grown listeners rather than the dance. The style overlaps lovers rock and R&B reggae but is defined by its slow, sensual, after-midnight atmosphere, and remains a fixture of Caribbean and diaspora radio.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Steve Barrow & Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae (2004)
- David Katz, Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae (2003)
- Dave Thompson, Reggae & Caribbean Music (2002)