MICHAEL KIWANUKA: Home Again (OTHERS): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Michael Kiwanuka is a lesson in life. As a child, he fled with his family from the Amin Dada regime in Uganda to London. At the age of 12, his mother gave him his first guitar, a revelation that would lead him to live for music, nothing but music. The discovery of Otis Redding and Bob Dylan will be a second catalyst that will make him adopt a musical style with pronounced influences and yet very personal, a mixture of funk and soul rooted in the 60s and 70s.

"Home Again", first album released in 2012, can be considered as an excellent introduction for this young musician who, if he has nothing to prove as a studio musician (he notably accompanied Adele in 2011), wants to show that he is capable of composing modern soul songs and especially singing them. The first track allows us to discover the soul influences of Michael Kiwanuka that we can easily compare to the work of Van Morrison. With its multiple solos on flute, violin or other saxophones and its arrangements of brass and strings, 'Tell Me A Tale' is a real enchantment for the ears. The very organic sound brings out each instrument, each breath, makes the cross stick snap, the toms hum and in a hushed atmosphere, giving the impression of listening to a private live session. But it is especially Michael Kiwanuka's voice that stands out from the whole, warm and full of feeling, magnifying a very promising first track.

The second track, 'I'm Getting Ready', is going to lean a little more on the folk influences of the guitarist/composer bringing him closer this time to a Bob Dylan. Once again, Michael Kiwanuka takes us in his intimate and cottony universe, to the sound of some arpeggios of guitar and a bewitching song supported at the end of the piece by choruses able to make you smile blissfully.

The rest of the album will not reserve any real surprises, developing the aspects that we find on these two first titles by associating them often subtly. One will think of Otis Redding on 'Bones' or Ennio Morricone on 'Always Waiting' and globally nothing will come to upset this modern-vintage atmosphere of quietude and peace.

As effective in the background as in close listening, "Home Again" is an excellent first try that will launch Michael Kiwanuka's career in a quite impressive way. Named in January 2012 as the best new sound of the year by a BBC poll, it will reach number four in the UK charts and will sell over 70,000 copies. If you like to be rocked by the sound of the 70s, this album is for you. - Official website

MICHAEL KIWANUKA

HOME AGAIN

AUTRE LABEL

OTHERS