MICHAEL KIWANUKA

British musician Michael Kiwanuka introduced and ingratiated himself with his acclaimed debut album, Home Again. A talented, unassuming young man of Ugandan heritage and honeyed voice, Michael was busy making some of the sweetest contemporary soul music of recent years. 

With a BRIT Award to his name before arguably finding his own distinct space, Michael took a decidedly left turn for the Love & Hate LP. Produced alongside Danger Mouse, the record flew to number 1 in the UK, with its otherworldly soundscapes sounding utterly both singular and sprawling, an opus by anyone’s definition. Notably, the haunting “Cold Little Heart” featured as the title music to HBO’s Big Little Lies, introducing Michael’s music to a whole new and appreciative audience (counting the likes of Barack Obama, Adele, and Tyler The Creator amongst them).

With the benefit of hindsight, Love & Hate almost acted as a blueprint for 2019’s KIWANUKA, Michael’s third and most definitive release to date, with Danger Mouse and British producer Inflo back behind the glass. A complex but deeply listenable and expansive expression of self-worth, KIWANUKA reaped Michael the distinguished Mercury Prize in 2020, his fourth and fifth BRIT nominations (British Male Solo Artist and British Album), and his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Album. All three records have been certified gold status in the UK alone.

Quite how an artist begins to follow up one of “the greatest albums of the decade” (The Guardian), we will surely soon find out, but Michael’s been keeping himself in good company as a regular contributor and confidante of the acclaimed SAULT collective, both on and off stage.

As we welcome him back to festival stages this Summer (where he excels, helping to sell out Green Man in 2022 on his name’s headliner reveal alone), what Michael delivers for his fourth act will be hotly anticipated. An artist in its truest, purest sense.

BRITTANY HOWARD

on “Red Flags,” Howard offers up a gloriously brooding reflection on love’s darker dimensions, echoing the stormy intensity of her emotional state by continually pulling the track into strange new directions. “In my past relationships, I’ve had a tendency to see red flags as part of some parade just for me—something for me to run right through without paying any attention,” she says. “To me ‘Red Flags’ sounds very dystopian, which makes sense for a song that feels like end-of-times as far as me emotionally maturing. It’s like a big tower fell and now I have to create something new.” Later, on “Prove It To You,” What Now bursts into a more euphoric mood as Howard delivers a four-on- the-floor dance track spiked with her explosive guitar work. “I wanted to write something fun that captured the joy of a new relationship, but also tell the truth about how I always feel like I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to love.”

An album deeply informed by the chaotic climate of modern life, What Now looks outward on songs like “Another Day”: a soulful and sublimely uplifting track preceded by an interlude in which Howard samples Maya Angelou’s reading of her poem “A Brave and Startling Truth.” “The poem talks about how as humans we’re all powerful beings with the capacity to do so many wonderful things for the world and for each other, even if that’s not what we usually focus our attention on,” says Howard. “‘Another Day’ is my way of agreeing with Maya Angelou and trying to see the good in others, trying to change my outlook despite what’s shown on the news, trying to stay strong in how I live my life.” And on “Every Color In Blue,” What Now closes out with a gorgeously sprawling reverie graced with a spellbinding performance from trumpet player Rod McGaha. “That song has to do with depression and how it can be such a horrible, heartbreaking thing but also bittersweet,” says Howard. “Within that depth of feeling, when you’re as low as you can go, that’s also where you find your capacity for love and for empathy. It’s a heavy subject for me, but I’ve gotten to the age where I realize that it’s a part of life and something that a lot of people deal with. So why not talk about it, and why not encase it in a beautiful frame?”

In putting the finishing touches on What Now, Howard reached out to two friends from the Nashville Center For Alternative Therapy and recorded their performance on crystal singing bowls, then used those hypnotic tones as a transition between each song. “This record’s definitely meant to be listened to alone so you can really meditate with it,” she says. “At the end of the day I hope people use the album however they need to, but I do think the gift I bring is to help people to be more introspective and ask themselves questions. And I think with a little self-examination, we can learn to be kinder, more compassionate, more understanding of each other. We can see that a lot of us are going through the same shit, and we all just want to be seen for who we really are.”