Michael Kiwanuka ‎– Home Again

There's been a lot of hype around Mr. Kiwanuka. The connection with the London folk scene through his signing to Communion Records has been written about ad infinitum so I was expecting an interesting amalgam of folk and soul. My heart sunk on seeing the cover, as it was a clichéd pastiche of a 70's soul album- faded photograph and all- but it is a true signal of what you'll get. We are served up a retro soul album with early 70's strings, flutes and all the trimmings associated with this kind of sound. He has been compared to all manner of soul stars of the era but he has his own voice, it's the instrumentation that's comparable. Let's be straight, it is a very good album but judging from CD2 it could have been a great album. The more stripped back production allows his full, silky voice to breathe and the jazzier direction makes it more contemporary. I'll Get Along is the standout track... but the Ethan Johns version. One gets the feeling that CD2 is a taster of the album Commotion would have released if Polydor weren't involved. 4 out of 5 but could have been 5.