Michael Kiwanuka has announce details third album, KIWANUKA, slated for release on October 25th 2019 through Interscope Records.
KIWANUKA is the follow-up to Michael’s album Love & Hate, which netted him his second Mercury Prize nomination, as well as his second and third BRIT nominations. Listen to the new single ‘You Ain’t The Problem’ here:
Recorded in New York, LA and London, Michael returned to the studio with Danger Mouse and Inflo, the same production team that combined on Love & Hate.
“KIWANUKA sets off on a journey that evokes the psychedelic haze of its predecessor, but ramps up a very broad sense of scale. With his exquisite band of players, Michael channels an assortment of the late greats (a nod to Gil Scott-Heron here, Bobby Womack flecked there, and the ever present Otis Redding vocally) for a richly rewarding record that sits typically at odds with the notion and expectations of a successful British singer-songwriter in 2019, and moves even further away from the folk-imbued vintage soul of his debut album, Home Again, back in 2012.”
Where Love & Hate showcased Michael’s prowess with a guitar, KIWANUKA showcases an ear for musical adventure. “Themes that resonated so loudly previously return here, namely Michael’s life-long confusion and questioning of his own identity, but also that of hope and of power. That Michael has spent the past year or two writing and nurturing the record, whilst also finding a newly discovered love for documenting his life behind a lens, lends itself to the suggestion of an artist putting a microscope on his own life.
Whilst many of his new findings are layered beneath a warm fuzz of instrumentation, KIWANUKA is Michael serving from the heart, from the mind, and from the soul.”
Michael explains: “The last album came from an introspective place and felt like therapy, I guess. This one is more about feeling comfortable in who I am and asking what I want to say. Like, how could I be bold and challenge myself and the listener? It is about self-acceptance in a more triumphant rather than melancholy way. It’s an album that explores what it means to be a human being today.”
“When I first signed a record deal, people would ask me, ‘So what are you going to be called?’. And I never thought of that; calling myself Johnny Thunders or whatever, like singers from the past. So, on this album it’s kind of a defiant thing; I’m engaging with who I am and I’m not going to have an alter ego, or become Sasha Fierce or Ziggy Stardust, even though everyone’s telling me I need to be this, that or the other. I can just be Michael Kiwanuka.”
Pre-order https://MichaelKiwanuka.lnk.to/KiwanukaPreOrderPR
KIWANUKA TRACKLISTING
You Ain’t The Problem
Rolling
I’ve Been Dazed
Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love) Intro
Piano Joint (This Kind Of Love) Main
Another Human Being
Hero/Hard To Say Goodbye
Final Days/Interlude (Loving The People)
Solid Ground
Light
CREDIT: Markeidric Walker
