Storm Queen

Morgan Geist has channeled his work through multiple projects, among them Storm Queen, ever since issuing a Detroit techno-inspired EP in 1994 on Dan Curtin’s Metamorphic label. Geist’s visibility rose sharply in the late ’90s and early 2000s as half of Metro Area, the duo that, together with Daniel Wang, helped surface early-’80s post-disco sounds ahead of the wider dance-music underground. For Storm Queen, Geist recruited Damon C. Scott—son of Sherry Scott, an original vocalist with Earth, Wind & Fire—after encountering the singer busking in New York City’s subway. Working alongside this commanding, high-energy vocalist whose style recalled the Gap Band’s Charlie Wilson, Geist set out to create contemporary, disco-rooted house tracks using analog equipment. The resulting singles—“Look Right Through” (2010), “It Goes On” (2011), and “Let’s Make Mistakes” (2012)—appeared on Geist’s own Environ imprint and earned strong critical notice. Rights to the debut tracks were subsequently licensed to England’s Defected, which released two EPs containing remixes by Jamie Jones, Art Department, Aeroplane, Dimitri from Paris, and MK, the veteran producer and Detroit native Marc Kinchen. In November 2013 an edit of the MK vocal remix displaced Eminem’s “The Monster” from the top of the U.K. Singles Chart, one of the more improbable number-one breakthroughs in any genre.