Love & Hate

AlbumJul 15 / 201610 songs, 54m 55s97%
Soul Singer-Songwriter
Popular Highly Rated

Michael Kiwanuka’s stunning second LP proves he’s an artist with something to say. *Love & Hate* is a timely and timeless set of slow-burning soul that recalls Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, and Curtis Mayfield. Produced by Danger Mouse, it sounds of the past and present all at once—as it does in the string-embossed swing of “Black Man in a White World.”

12

6.9 / 10

Singer Michael Kiwanuka’s new album* *is a sprawling soul opus full of longing and self-assessment.  It's a bittersweet offering, growing more melancholy as it plays.

A

The vintage vibes of Michael Kiwanuka’s 2012 folk-soul-jazz debut album, Home Again, struck a cross-generational chord. Its follow-up, Love & Hate, keeps what was best about those classic dusty sounds, updating them under the direction of deft modern-day producers Danger Mouse (Portugal. The Man, Gorillaz) in the…

9 / 10

North-London singer songwriter returns with a soul-searching masterpiece.

The BBC Sound of 2012 winner presents a suite of lushly orchestrated soul on album two

Did somebody say Mercury? This is a landmark album for a previously forgotten musician.

Andy Gill reviews the week's new releases

On his ambitious sophomore set, London native Michael Kiwanuka expands outward from the warm retro-soul of 2012 debut, Home Again.

9 / 10

There's a thoughtfulness that permeates Michael Kiwanuka's second album, Love & Hate. Across ten songs, the UK-based singer-songwriter and m...

9 / 10

There’s a point, a little over four minutes into the album’s opening track ‘Cold Little Heart’, when the luscious instrumental

Mercury nominee Kiwanuka displays biting self-knowledge on the pain of failing relationships

The album shows lateral growth in its procession of art-rock odysseys and more standard fare.

Kiwanuka has found a troubled, compelling voice with an emotional honesty and stately self-assurance that shows other post-Drake melancholics up as imitators

80 %

On his debut, 2012’s Home Again, singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka seemed to arrive fully formed.

Album Reviews: Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate

What colour is music?

8 / 10