The British soul singer and guitarist Michael Kiwanuka lets himself fall back deep into the late sixties with his second CD "Love & Hate". However, the topics he takes up in the process are highly topical. Seldom has timelessness been so focused and explosive as on this CD of a 29-year-old who exclaims: "Stop with no matter" and intervenes again. Between the pegs Pink Floyd and Marvin Gaye he ignites a firework of emotional drama.
eclipsed: The CD reflects the personal world of your experiences and emotions, but also anticipates global aspects of Brexit and the current race riots in the USA.
Michael Kiwanuka: When I made the music, of course I couldn't foresee what was going to happen in the world at the time of release. But I could count on my feeling. When you walk through life awake, you inevitably reflect the times you live in. This does not have to be preceded by a conscious decision. I just have to be honest with myself. When I recorded the music, I didn't expect anything like that. My sound is certainly based on music from earlier times, but with my lyrics I wanted to establish a connection to the present.
eclipsed: Soul once began as a political statement, then at some point it became escapist "afternoon music". Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye brought him back into the political context. All this can be heard in your music...
Kiwanuka: Exactly these were my influences. At the time of the recordings I heard a lot of Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and Rotary Connection, but also British guitar bands like Pink Floyd and The Who. With all these artists the mixture of power and emotion was right. That's what I wanted to join. There's no special technology for that. It's working or it's not working.
