London-residing singer-songwriter, Michael Kiwanuka shares Afro-flava music videos from new album “Love & Hate” to be released this May
By: Mikiki (Naoko Kato)
Folky, jazzy and soulful oozing of retro fragrance ―4 years since his debut album “Home Again” (2012) gave me the fatal blow with its straight-to-the-heart and poetic sentiments-gushing sounds, Michael Kiwanuka finally returns with long-awaited new material! While I sit and write restlessly out of personal glowing expectation, it has been officially announced that his 2nd album, “Love & Hate” is to be released on 27th May. Music videos of 2 of the songs from the album are now available for viewing.
“Black Man In The World”, the song made public first, is a song that puts Afro groove to the forefront ―an up-tempo song that lays Afro guitar tunes, female backing vocals and beats on the distinctive raw and folky air he is known for. Meanwhile, the other track “Love & Hate” also comes with chant-ish back vocals in Afro taste, so I thought, but no, that actually may be simply being over-attached to the first song mentioned. All in all, the album lets out a brief forefeel of it being an album of statement that sets his eyes on his roots ―the land of Africa, as was also perhaps felt in Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”. We’ll see.
※Click here for Michael Kiwanuka’s “Love & Hate” on iTunes
