Home Again

Michael Kiwanuka made a long way to the solo career

The British artist Michael Kiwanuka started his solo career recently, in 2011, however Michael had already played in several bands. Kiwanuka started performing in various groups while studying in school; later he continued to play as a session guitarist for Chipmunk and Bashy. Anyways, the musician understood perfectly that he had to move on. Kiwanuka wrote songs for other artists, and he enjoyed these compositions a lot by himself. Thereby Michael decided to try his own luck and strength in the field of performing. His very first concert took place in Oxford, and everything turned out to be really successful. Representatives of the label Communion Records noticed that young and promising artist, so later they signed a contract, which gave way to Michael’s two first EPs: Tell Me a Tale and I'm Getting Ready. Listeners enjoyed interesting sound that included charm of soul, rock and rhythm and blues. Sure, Michael was not the pioneer of these genres, nevertheless his songs proved to be distinctive due to their true sincerity. It goes without saying that listeners have always highly valued such openness. Well, their interest was warmed up by bright and intriguing EPs, and now the release of a full-length album Home Again finally took place.

Home Again is just a beginning of a long way

Kiwanuka prepared ten amazing songs for the debut album, which is not such a big quantity, if we take into consideration modern measures. But that humble number of compositions is easily balanced out by the material’s quality. The major song Tell Me A Tale was honored to become an opening track of the long play. There is no doubt that this track will be enjoyed by numerous lovers of soul and rhythm and blues. Then goes not less bright composition I'm Getting Ready, which got some nice dreaminess. The basic role here is played by the guitar, and this is not such a big surprise, after all. Michael knows how to play that instrument and he loves to play it, so no wonder that almost all the artist’s songs are based on the guitar parts. I'll Get Along can be a great example of that. While listening to Michael’s songs, it is incredibly easy to imagine how they would sound like, if the artist would have played acoustic versions, with the accompaniment of only one guitar. The charm would not disappear, that is for sure, but the arrangements of Home Again bring only positive emotions. The album’s title song, Home Again, sounds warm. It feels that such songs create coziness and comfort. Just play it in the evening, listen carefully and you will understand and feel how many live emotions it has got.

Confident start

Michael Kiwanuka has all the chances to get faithful fans, and there are several reasons for that. First and foremost, as it has been stated before, his creativity is sincere and simple – simple in a good way, of course. Secondly, Michael’s music is distinctive and it stands out of the great many of modern tracks that cannot exist without digital support and processing. Kiwanuka writes a little bit old-fashioned music, which becomes even more attractive due to this feature. Moreover, the performer’s art somehow absorbed charm of several genres at the same time. Lyrics is also worth attention – Michael has something to share with his listeners. Thus, in such a confident way, Kiwanuka started his career. He did not reinvent the wheel, but he managed to signify the focus of interest, which certainly does not include the chase of instant fame. The album was prepared with love, and we will probably get the not less fascinating continuation. The artist keeps on getting experience (which is always a must), so Michael’s discography will be definitely enlarged by a notable development of a debut long play.