Den Ruf verteidigen
Er gehört zu den größten Soulsängern, die die aktuelle Musikwelt zu bieten hat, 2019 veröffentlicht er sein neues, drittes Studioalbum: Michael Kiwanuka. Die Platte heißt wie er selbst: »Kiwanuka«.
Bereits auf seinen ersten beiden Alben, »Home Again« (2014) und »Love & Hate« (2016), entpuppte sich der Brite als absolut vielseitiger Künstler. Diesen Ruf verteidigt er auf seinem neuen Album.
Soul, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Rock – »Kiwanuka« legt sich nicht auf ein Genre fest. Im Gegenteil: Er lässt sie immer wieder miteinander verschmelzen.
13 Tracks hat Michael Kiwanuka dafür in New York, Los Angeles und London aufgenommen. Unterstützung bekam er von keinem Geringeren als Produzent Danger Mouse, der schon beim Vorgänger den einen oder anderen Regler drehte.
Sein facettenreicher Soul könnte Kiwanuka schon bald in eine Liga mit Isaac Hayes katapultieren, mit dem er oft verglichen wird.
(Stereo, November 2019)
Kiwanukas spezielle Mischung aus Soul, Psychedelic Rock und einer dem Electric Jazz entlehnten Klangsprache sucht in der Gegenwart seinesgleichen.
(stereoplay, Dezember 2019)
›Rolling‹ muss irgendwann nach dem Hören einer Nirvana-Platte geschrieben worden sein, und ›Hero‹, das Herzstück dieser CD, wurde in der Grundstruktur an ›All Along The Watchtower‹ angelehnt. Wunderschön aufwendig ist das Artwork des Albums. (...) Dies ist angebracht, Kiwanuka beherrscht sein Handwerk meisterhaft.
(Good Times, Dezember 2019 / Januar 2020)
Auf seinem dritten Album schließt der britische Songwriter mit helleren Klangfarben und Experimentierlust an den opulenten Soul von LOVE & HATE an.
(musikexpress)
Singer and songwriter Michael Kiwanuka is beloved by progressive music fans in his native U.K. He's been nominated for the Mercury Prize for his previous albums (Home Again and Love & Hate) and also received a Brit Prize nom for the latter. Further, his song "Cold Little Heart" became a kind of international indie hit after it was chosen as the theme song for HBO's star-studded series Big Little Lies. Born to Ugandan parents who fled during Idi Amin's reign of terror and settled in Muswell Hill, Kiwanuka has had to fight to keep his identity at the forefront of the culture; numerous record execs tried to get him to dump his birth name for one easier to market, resulting in such a crisis of self-confidence that he shelved an earlier album called Night Songs, recorded as the initial follow-up to Home Again, so he could decide if he even wanted to continue pursuing a musical vocation. This third album wears its self-titling as a badge of honor, a statement of who Michael Kiwanuka as artist and individual is. Once more produced by Danger Mouse and Inflo, this 13-song set is a brave, colorful collection that provides an exceptionally well-rounded aural portrait of Kiwanuka's massive and diverse talent. If one had to choose a genre umbrella for this release, the term "21st century psychedelic soul" would fit better than anything else. The opening tune here, "You Ain't the Problem," carries the inspiration of Curtis Mayfield in its rave-up chorus, while "Rolling" melds sweeping soul and the reverbed guitar psychedelia of Arthur Lee and Love. "Hero," at least initially, is a haunted, acoustically driven folk ballad: "I won't change my name/No matter what they call me." It transforms from a first-person manifesto into a trippy yet direct folk-rock homage to Fred Hampton, late president of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party, who was gunned down by city police as he slept. "This Kind of Love" is perhaps the first tune to ever meld Bill Withers' folksy, funky soul to Terry Callier's singular, jazzed-up take on the genre. "Hard to Say Goodbye" is a weave of exotica-tinged, pillowy strings; Pink Floyd-esque guitar and effects atmospherics; and the sophisticated soul of Stevie Wonder circa Talking Book. Lyrically, the album reveals Kiwanuka at his most vulnerable and strident (no mean feat). The dramatic nature of his songwriting is gifted to listeners in catchy earworms, adventurous textural interludes, provocative lyrics, and through an ambitious melodic palette. As fine as Love & Hate was -- worthy of all its accolades -- Kiwanuka stands head and shoulders above it as a complex, communicative, poetic, and sometimes even profound collection that wears its heart on its sleeve and its sophistication in its grooves.
(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)
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