Michael Kiwanuka
“Summer Clothes”
Polydor (available via website)
What a return to form for Michael Kiwanuka.
After cancelling a wave of summer tour dates last year, we finally know why Kiwanuka had to step out of the spotlight. He had suffered a stroke. It was a snowball effect. It was triggered from bleeding on his brain due to high blood pressure.
“The brain injury I suffered was quite severe, so there’s a lot of rehab to be done," wrote Kiwanuka in a statement. "It’s a long, tough journey ahead but I’m fighting to get better.”
You won’t hear any of that stress on his single “Summer Clothes,” the lead single from his upcoming album Fudge due October 23 via Polydor.
This single is breezy. If the journey to Kiwanuka’s recovery has been hard, this is the deep breath of relief that he’s getting somewhere closer to fine.
This single is soulful. It feels like a loose song idea pulled from the sonic closet of Isaac Hayes at the height of his powers at Stax Records.
This single was produced in a new way. Kiwanuka is in charge on his upcoming album. He produced it himself, doing away with his usual collaborators of Danger Mouse and Inflo. Instead, he enlisted some support from producer Dom Monks and his strings collaborator Rosie Danvers.
The change was inspired by a quote from jazz pianist Chick Corea: “You have to learn to be certain about what you like, not what you think sounds good to someone else… Whatever you think is beautiful, that’s what’s beautiful, and you have to pursue that.”
That quote actually opens up “Summer Clothes,” before a floating choir of voices accompany Kiwanuka along a simple piano line that builds and builds and builds… before you’re lifted and floating along yourself, enjoying Kiwanuka’s ride to recovery and the first taste of the album.
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