Kiwanuka, Michael: Fudge (2LP) [POLYDOR]

Why you'll love it

Michael Kiwanuka's fifth album, and the first he made without Danger Mouse and Inflo. He produced it himself, mostly at Dreamers, a one-room studio near his home in Southampton, with Dom Monks helping finish the recordings and Rosie Danvers arranging the strings. Twelve songs, including "Summer Clothes" and the seven-minute "Love In My Heart".

This edition

• 2LP
• 12 songs
• Artwork by Stevie Gee

About the album

FUDGE grew out of the Small Changes sessions. An improvised take of "Love In My Heart" convinced Kiwanuka he had another album on his hands, and he took it somewhere small and quiet to finish it. He has named the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Neil Young's On The Beach, Frank Ocean's Blonde and Shuggie Otis' Inspiration Information as touchstones, and you can hear all four in the loose, warm grooves here.

The record was finished before he had a stroke in the summer of 2025, which postponed its release by almost a year while he recovers. He chose the title because "when I think of fudge it's playful and childlike, which is good for creativity", and it is the lightest-footed thing he has made.

“A stroke can take away a lot of things, but it can't take those songs away.”
Michael Kiwanuka, The Guardian

Also at Kops: more Soul

Tracklist

1. Summer Clothes
2. California
3. Just Another Moment
4. Drowning In Your Heart
5. Love In My Heart
6. Across The Sky
7. Stars
8. You Sent Me Flying
9. Move In My Direction
10. Steve's Paradise
11. Sing
12. Swings And Roundabouts

On Polydor (cat# 7595962).