Quiet Storm – Inspirations. (download)

So it’s been 9 months since I released Quiet Storm, my most recent album, and I recently had the idea of compiling the songs that inspired the record so that you could hear some of the wonderful tracks that inspire me. Some you will know, some I hope will be new to you and can open up your ears to new songs and sounds 🙂

Putting together all the songs last night, I realised I have far too many to keep to one album’s worth, so treat this as Volume 1: these are the songs that directly influenced songs, production or lyrics on the album.  Volume 2 will be more abstract, a mood piece which had songs that were instrumental when I was first creating the concept of the album.  As I’m starting to get ready to think about my next record, something that I like to do is think about what I want to say, and what songs epitomise the sound and concept I am going for: a sonic mood board, if you will. Volume 2 will try to recreate the sonic mood board I had for Quiet Storm.

So keep a look out for that, but for now here is Quiet Storm – The Inspirations (Volume 1) (click). Enjoy!  Liner notes are below 🙂

1. Mary J. Blige – Mary Jane – inspired the hook of “All Night Long”

2. Janet Jackson – Discipline – inspired the general feel of “All Night Long” – before I heard “Discipline”, “All Night Long” was my envisioning of how the track would sound.

3. Chris Brown – Take You Down – namechecked in the lyrics to “All Night Long”

4. The-Dream – Falsetto – inspired the general feel and production of “Hook Boy”

5. Beyoncé – Diva – inspired the hook in “Hook Boy”

6. Delta Goodrem – Believe Again – inspired the production and gradual build in “Secret”

7. Cassie – Nobody But You – sampled in “Touch Me”

8. Jennifer Lopez – Waiting For Tonight (Hex Hector Mix) – I was listening to this song when I started writing “Quiet Storm”

9. Danity Kane – Right Now – inspired the general feel and piano / bass lines in “Quiet Storm”

10. Lil Wayne – Got Money – namechecked in the bridge in “Quiet Storm”

11. Mariah Carey – H.A.T.E.U. – the full song had not come out, but I was obsessively listening to the LQ snippet of this song and it inspired the production and rewrite of “Jump Off (Part II)”.

12. Solid Harmonie – When We Kiss (Missing You) – sampled in “Kissing You”; important for the concept of Quiet Storm as a whole.

13. Mis-Teeq – It’s Beginning To Feel Like Love – sampled in “In Love”

14. Rihanna – Umbrella – inspired the vocal ad-libs towards the end of “Come Home To Me”

15. Janet Jackson – Take Care – inspired the backing vocals in “Come Home To Me”; again, another song that was instrumental in the concept of the album.

16. Paulina Rubio – Sexi Dance – sampled in “Last Chance”.

17. Ciara – Work – sampled in “Last Chance”; the song was originally inspired as a cross between this and…

18. Beyoncé – Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix) – …this! I loved the hard R&B feel that just made you want to dance, I enjoyed the fearlessness of having an extended mix and ending an album on an uptempo.

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There you have it! Keep an eye out for volume 2, and of course, if you haven’t yet heard my album Quiet Storm, you can download it here 🙂 Much love 🙂