Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Kiwanuka, Michael
Label: Polydor Records
Released: 2012
Runtime: 38:41
Rating: 4/5
Michael Kiwanuka, a young Londoner of Ugandan descent, is one of those musicians who, right from the start of his career, refused to bow to the dictates of whatever’s topping the charts at the moment and the musical commandments that come with it. When you hear about someone who embraces the best ideas from popular music history and builds a musical path in that spirit, all you can do is nod enthusiastically and applaud. His calmly emotional debut Home Again has finally arrived after a long wait. Kiwanuka had already been gigging at a breakneck pace throughout 2011, and Adele helped launch him into the musical stratosphere too, since he opened her shows. Home Again is a meaningful debut for a millennium that’s well underway, one that owes a lot to old-school soul and R&B, while its author weaves in the loveliest impressions from an otherwise tough British everyday life. Michael Kiwanuka mostly devotes himself to love lyrics, but from all that beauty and dreaminess he often comes crashing down to hard ground.
Whether it’s the velvety, throaty quality of his voice, the hypnotic rhythms or the lively instrumentation – all of it draws the listener in and keeps them in spellbound anticipation. There are no overly fast songs on Home Again, and so Kiwanuka moves somewhere between the unassuming and the quietly hidden when delivering his musical and lyrical message. Kiwanuka explains his fascination with old music as a conscious decision to dig deep into soul, R&B and jazz. He deliberately buried himself in the legacy of the old masters and sank completely into the music of Miles Davis, Otis Redding and Bill Withers. It was the connection with the latter, or rather with his drummer, James Gadson, who was almost 72 in the year this album came out, that fascinated the young artist most. The master praised his work and gladly played a few gigs with him. After admiring Nirvana and Radiohead, Kiwanuka once listened with delight to music from a record that came bundled with some English freebie newspaper. Soul blew everything else away for him right then. Kiwanuka also serves up a decent helping of folk, with the emphasis, of course, on the British kind, which has surrounded him all his life.
As a competent songwriter and musician, he was looking for someone who could bring his retro sound to life. It turned out the other way around: The Bees’ producer Paul Butler heard him in some club and has helped him out a great deal. He shaped the sound of Home Again the old-fashioned way. That is, computers only came into play in the very last stage of the production. No overdone, nearly distorted sounds, just music that’s natural, unfaked and organic. Kiwanuka and Butler are fans of analog recording, and they like it best when a song is captured in one go, and they really did only minimal touch-ups. On Home Again, Kiwanuka played guitars, bass and keyboards, while Butler handled the drums and most of the percussion. They enriched the gorgeous musical tapestry with violin, flute and saxophone, instruments that have always played an important role in soul and jazz. Butler is a master at adding the finer touches to the music; he knows exactly how and where to place a phrase and how to get a lasting effect by picking just the right instrument.
If the last few years belonged to the female singers who, led by Amy Winehouse and Duffy, stood out in this style, Michael Kiwanuka is the first among male singers to try his luck with this kind of music. He had already put out a few songs on two EPs, but it was only the album Home Again that added the final value, and it’s very high. If retro is in, something else has to be out. And you’ll find plenty of that in all the places where you’d look for Kiwanuka in vain.
Line-up
Michael Kiwanuka – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards, piano
Paul Butler – drums, percussion, kora, trumpet, saxophone
Andy Parkin – violin
Paul Armfield – double bass
Production
Paul Butler
Track list
1. Tell Me a Tale (4:12)
2. I’m Getting Ready (2:25)
3. I’ll Get Along 3:31
4. Rest (3:52)
5. Home Again (3:30)
6. Bones (3:52)
7. Always Waiting (4:31)
8. I Won’t Lie (4:06)
9. Any Day Will Do Fine (3:40)
10. Worry Walks Beside Me (5:02)
