Michael Kiwanuka has become one of Britain’s finest songwriters

Michael Kiwanuka has blossomed into one of Britain’s finest songwriters without ever causing a fuss. He emerged in 2012 as seemingly just another boy-next-door indie strummer of the sort labels were rushing to sign as Ed Sheeran rocketed to stardom. But Kiwanuka’s music has since expanded into a thoughtful blend of folk and soul – a charismatic cross-pollination increasingly informed by the Londoner’s experience as a child of immigrant parents from Uganda.
He takes another stride forward with the gorgeously understated and gently impassioned Small Changes, which arrives four years after he won the Mercury Prize for his gospel-influenced third album, Kiwanuka. The record is testament to his versatility as a writer, displaying a confident indifference to genre and delving into soul and pop one moment, classic rock the next.
The unifying quality is Kiwanuka’s wise, warm voice, which is strikingly magnetic – and the record unpacks heavy questions such as the elusiveness of happiness. That is the subject of opener “Floating Parade”, a hazy excursion into R&B that showcases the production talents of his long-time collaborators Danger Mouse and Dean Cover, aka Adele producer Inflo.
Cover’s day job is leading the London soul collective Sault; some of that group’s cinematic maximalism can be heard in this gauzy meditation on the desire for human connection. As Kiwanuka croons in the chorus, we each want to “reach out to that floating parade” and be part of something bigger than ourselves.
Kiwanuka is an unassuming artist, but he is prepared to take risks. Small Changes’ title track starts with an earnest guitar intro reminiscent of U2’s “One”. It then switches into groovilicious retro funk that recalls 70s protest singer Gil Scott-Heron. Handled less subtly, the juxtaposition of stadium rock and R&B might have jarred. Kiwanuka, however, is comfortable moving between worlds – a reflection, as he’s said in interviews, of his upbringing as a “Ugandan kid” raised on mainstream rock and pop.
The beating heart of the album is its two-pronged centrepiece, “Lowdown (part i)” and “Lowdown (part ii)”. Released over the summer as a double A-side, this double-whammy of sprawling power-ballads blends the psychedelic ecstasy of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” with Pink Floyd-esque drifts of proggy guitar – their pastoral ache informed by Kiwanuka’s move with his wife and two kids from London to Hampshire.
He still isn’t done switching it up and veers into vintage synth-pop on “Follow Your Dreams”. Only at the end does he run out of steam slightly with formulaic acoustic closer “Four Long Years” – an anonymous smudge of dream pop reportedly inspired by “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star. After a soaring high, Kiwanuka returns to earth with a hint of a bumpy landing – not that it’s enough to take the sheen off a wonderful album.
Stream: “Floating Parade”, “Lowdown (part i)”, “Lowdown (part ii)”