Quiet Storm

From This Might Be A Wiki
The Quiet Storm as seen in 2018

The Quiet Storm was a stripped-down part of They Might Be Giants' live show that ran from 2018 to 2020.

Often quiet and always stormy, this subset featured John Flansburgh on acoustic guitar and John Linnell on contra-alto clarinet or accordion, joined by Marty Beller on electronic percussion and occasionally Curt Ramm or Mark Pender on digitally-processed trumpet, setting this apart from an acoustic set.

The name "quiet storm" comes from Smokey Robinson's 1975 album A Quiet Storm, which in turn inspired a radio format with programming tending towards smooth R&B and jazz fusion. John Flansburgh used this phrase decades before the premiere of the live segment to describe "Taste The Bass", the Mink Car arrangement of "Another First Kiss", and John Linnell haphazardly scrolling through his sampler.

On March 7, 2018, Conan debuted a web-exclusive video of a full Quiet Storm set on Facebook (at 1h2m) and YouTube (mirror).

Songs that have been featured in the Quiet Storm[edit]