Nyabinghi Love Riddim – Clive Hunt Records

Clive Hunt has spent decades shaping Jamaican music from behind the board, and Nyabinghi Love Riddim fits neatly into that long run of roots work. The release arrived in 2024 through Clive Hunt Records and Ineffable Records, with a small, vocal-led lineup that keeps the frame intimate rather than crowded. It also sits in the same lane as Hunt’s broader catalogue: rooted, melodic, and arranged with a producer’s patience.

The title track with Maxi Priest is the most immediately accessible cut. Priest, the London-born singer who helped carry lovers rock and reggae-fusion into the mainstream, brings a smooth, high-gloss tone that softens the harder edges of the rhythm. Lutan Fyah’s My Heart Cries takes a more conscious route. The Spanish Town singer, long associated with Rastafari themes and roots reggae, gives the riddim more urgency and gravity. George Nooks closes the circle with Drifting Away, leaning into the veteran warmth and gospel-tinged phrasing that have defined much of his career.

The riddim itself carries the name honestly: there is a spiritual pulse in the percussion, a steady roots feel, and enough space in the arrangement for the singers to stretch without crowding one another. Rather than pushing big crossover drama, the production stays centered on mood, melody, and message. That restraint is what makes the project work. Each voice lands differently, but the riddim holds them together with a calm, ceremonial sway.