The calmness that emanates from Michael Kiwanuka‘s fourth album suggests he’s benefited from some time out of the limelight. After releasing his triumphant Mercury Prize-winning record ‘Kiwanuka’ in 2019, the 37-year-old singer and guitarist moved from London to the south coast, had two children with his wife Charlotte and enjoyed a well-deserved break from performing. His follow-up has been hotly anticipated, but the comfy, unpretentious voice at the heart of ‘Small Changes’ – an album designed to “transcend any notion of what is or isn’t cool”, according to Kiwanuka – gently bats away any feelings of pressure.
The album’s opening 20 seconds are stunning; light bursts of guitar collide with dreamy falsetto gasps, a shimmering emission of white noise helping lift you to some far-off sunny shore. Then, a tight drum fill draws you away into a more homely, Bill Withers-influenced soul sound that persists across ‘Floating Parade’ and provides a solid, hearty backbone across the album’s 11 tracks. Where ‘Kiwanuka’ was epic-sounding, stuffed with dramatic strings arrangements, screeching guitar solos and dramatic gospel vocals, ‘Small Changes’ is defined by the subtlety the title implies.
The mellow, heart-warming quality of tracks like ‘Rebel Soul’ and ‘One And Only’ owe a lot to soft strings and restrained, unobtrusive drum patterns that reflect a desire not to overcomplicate things. Co-producers Inflo (Sault, Cleo Sol, Little Simz) and Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton (Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley, Black Thought), who have worked closely with Kiwanuka since 2016, play a key role here. The pair let his bright, clean guitar licks lap against the shores of sleepy violin melodies or funky basslines, these textures linking up nimbly to build an easy backdrop for Kiwanuka’s sincere, life-affirming lyrics.
In the past, the hook of ‘Follow Your Dreams’ (on which Kiwanuka simply repeats the title line eight times) may have seemed a little earnest for the London-born singer. Similarly, the record’s slow-dance closer ‘Four Long Years’, where he croons “I fall in love / I fall in love all the way / I did what I needed to stay” is unashamedly cheesy, and all the more impactful for its authenticity. Unlike ‘Kiwanuka’, this album doesn’t keep you guessing. Rather than punching you in the face with a barrage of beauty, it softly rolls pockets of magic into your path. Yet, the softness of its approach does nothing to lessen the impact of Kiwanuka’s long-awaited return.
