Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes review: Fatherhood inspires Mercury winner's soulful comeback, writes ADRIAN THRILLS

Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes review: Fatherhood inspires Mercury winner's soulful comeback, writes ADRIAN THRILLS By ADRIAN THRILLS Published: 01:28, 22 November 2024 | Updated: 01:32, 22 November 2024 e-mail View comments Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes (Polydor) Verdict: Soul and substance Rating: Growing up in London as a skateboarding teenager whose music tastes ranged from the crunching hard rock of Nirvana to the soulful sound of Marvin Gaye, Michael Kiwanuka was never particularly easy to pin down. His open-mindedness has served him well in his career, though, landing him a No.1 album with 2016's Love & Hate and a Mercury Prize for 2019's Kiwanuka.

He's since taken a breather, and spent some time taking stock of his life as a husband and father. But the five-year gap between albums hasn't led to any dramatic musical shifts: as its title suggests, Small Changes sticks to a well-established blueprint. It is, however, Michael's most comprehensive fusion yet of guitar-driven rock and 1970s-inspired soul.



Kiwanuka, 37, says he was 'trying to shoot for something that might have made it onto a Bill Withers album or a Sade album'. Growing up in London as a skateboarding teenager whose music tastes ranged from the crunching hard rock of Nirvana to the soulful sound of Marvin Gaye, Michael Kiwanuka was never particularly easy to pin down. Pictured: Michael Kiwanuka performs on The Pyramid Stage during day four of Glastonbury Festival 2024 The five-year gap between albums hasn't led to any dramatic musical shifts: as its title suggests, Small Changes sticks to a well-established blueprint.

It is, however, Michael's most comprehensive fusion yet of guitar-driven rock and 1970s-inspired soul. Pictured: Artwork from album Michael Kiwanuka Casting the net wider, he also cites the virtuoso guitar work of John Frusciante, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pink Floyd 's David Gilmour as key influences on him - and it's relatively easy to spot all of the above in the 11 new tracks here. He has also reconvened the same backroom team he used so successfully in 2016 and 2019, once again co-writing everything with American musician Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton, of Gnarls Barkley, and fellow Londoner Dean Josiah Cover - aka Inflo - a BRIT-winning producer who was once likened to a young Quincy Jones by Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard.

If Kiwanuka's self-titled 2019 album was an ambitious song-suite that blended R&B and psychedelia, and prefaced a number of tracks with cinematic interludes, this one is rather more straightforward. Stripped-back and understated, Small Changes places greater onus on Kiwanuka's lyrics, drawing upon his experiences as a married father of two to help him express universal emotions. Opening with a Fender guitar riff that nods to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Under The Bridge, One And Only finds him praising his wife for her understanding of his life as a working musician.

Stripped-back and understated, Small Changes places greater onus on Kiwanuka's lyrics, drawing upon his experiences as a married father of two to help him express universal emotions It's just one of several tracks illuminated by the presence of R&B musician Jimmy Jam, most famous for his work with Janet Jackson, who here adds soulful Hammond organ. There's heartache too, most notably on the weather-beaten soul ballad Four Long Years - a break-up song inspired by Mazzy Star's indie-pop classic Fade Into You - and Floating Parade, on which he deals with his anxieties by harking back to an analogue synth sound pioneered in the late 1990s by bands like Air and Morcheeba. The centrepiece of the record is Lowdown.

A two-part piece balanced delicately between rock and soul, it opens as a nostalgic ballad, with Jimmy Jam to the fore, before developing into a guitar-driven, Pink Floyd-like instrumental. It's a reaffirmation, rather than a revamp, of his talent. But, as he sings on the title track: 'Small changes solve the problems.

' Father John Misty: Mahashmashana (Bella Union) Rating: On his sixth album as alter ego Father John Misty, Josh Tillman continues his deep dive into yesteryear. The Maryland-born singer has recently looked to 1940s big band music (on Chloë And The Next 20th Century) and confessional folk-rock (on God's Favorite Customer). On Mahashmashana, his curiosity has led him back to a style that has served him well in the past — the lavishly orchestrated pop and disco of the 1970s.

The 43-year old, who says he adopted his tongue-in-cheek stage name because he grew tired of making 'sad b******d music', geared up for this album last year by performing a London concert featuring songs originally sung by the late Scott Walker. That live tribute to Walker's baritone croon has clearly boosted Tillman's confidence: his rich voice has never sounded better. His lyrics, on the other hand, are typically bittersweet, dealing with mortality, the wretched state of the world, and the dark side of fame.

On his sixth album as alter ego Father John Misty, Josh Tillman continues his deep dive into yesteryear. Pictured: Father John Misty performs at the Ohana Festival on Friday September 29, 2023 The title Mahashmashana is his approximation of an old Sanskrit word for 'great cremation ground'. He chose it as much for its sound as its meaning, although you do get the feeling that there's a lot about modern life he'd like to toss onto a funeral pyre.

With six of the eight songs lasting over five minutes - and two running for well over eight - restraint isn't on the agenda. The nine-minute title track sets the tone. Opening the album with a cavalcade of strings, piano, electric guitars and cymbals, its early-1970s wall of sound harks back to John Lennon's Mind Games and Harry Nilsson's version of Without You.

Elsewhere, Screamland is a satire on the Hollywood lifestyle which brings to mind Father John's occasional collaborator Lana Del Rey. There's also, on the funky She Cleans Up, a witty reference to Scarlett Johansson playing an alien in the 2013 sci-fi film Under The Skin. It's to Tillman's credit that even the most protracted numbers don't outstay their welcome (the eight-minute disco saga I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All being a case in point).

As a fan, I have a slight preference for the more concise character sketches of 2022's Chloë...

but this is still another bold dispatch from one of America's finest songwriters. London Share or comment on this article: Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes review: Fatherhood inspires Mercury winner's soulful comeback, writes ADRIAN THRILLS e-mail Add comment.