Michael Kiwanuka is
a British born singer-songwriter with Ugandan heritage, and with the release of
his debut album Home Again has seen
him being compared to Bill Withers, Otis Redding and Van Morrison. One can certainly
identify with such comparisons when listening to the album, which contains a
mixture of soul jazz, acoustic folk, and blues. Musically speaking the album
has a gentle simplicity about it with Kiwanuka’s guitar playing taking centre
stage backed by jazzy and soulful arrangements reminiscent of Nick Drake’s
album Bryter Layter, and features
sporadic appearances by the flute, strings, piano, and horns. The definite quality
in Kiwanuka’s music is his soothing vocals and delicate guitar playing, with
everything else really only playing a supporting role. The wonderful production
on the album allows the texture in the songs to come to the surface and in turn
creates an airiness to Kiwanuka’s vocals making them standout above everything
else on the record. The quality of his vocal delivery in combination with what
is often quite gentle like guitar playing ensures that you can’t help but feel
totally calm and relaxed when listening. Key tracks on the album include the Van
Morrison esc “Tell Me a Tale” with its jazzy beat and “Moondance” like swagger,
the smooth blues of “Rest”, and the acoustic soul of “Home Again”. The quality
on display right across the album ensures that even the slightly less memorable
tracks still sound good and are not skippable by any stretch. I guess one of the
main appeals of Kiwanuka is that his style isn’t set in stone with his music more
like a hybrid of styles in the form of a gorgeous “soulful jazzy acoustic”
nature. The variation in style across the album from track to track including
splashes of soul, jazz, blues, folk, and even swinger (if such a styles exists)
ensures that there is enough going on here musically to enchant the listener
and keep their attention, while prevents the album from falling into the trap
of being a nice enough soul album but pretty samey. Home Again is a solid first up effort from Kiwanuka, in a music environment
where people stand up and take notice of you if you go against the pop/R&B
grain and attempt to distinguish yourself from other acts around you. I feel
Kiwanuka has done that nicely here to a certain extent, and definitely has the
potential to expand on this first offering next time round. I for one will be
keeping my ears open and at the ready for what he does next.
A-/A
- Sam
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