Michael Kiwanuka’s highly anticipated second album Love & Hate was recorded in Los Angeles and London and produced by Grammy Award winner Brian Joseph Burton aka Dangermouse and young up and coming producer Inflo. Love & Hate is a fascinatingly assured and resonant body of work following Kiwanuka’s acclaimed 2012 debut LP, Home Again.

Where that album invited comparisons to the likes of Bill Withers and Otis Redding, Michael’s new album struts to a much more psychedelic, freeform beat. The peerless ten-minute opus “Cold Little Heart” evokes the haze of Pink Floyd in its unhurried slow-burn, while “Falling” is a soaring gospel number for the 21st century. There are standout tunes throughout, but Love & Hate is an album that genuinely deserves to be listened to as one, littered as it is with ‘headphones moments’ that require real attention to the light and shade of its creation.

Kiwanuka explains, “I’ve always wanted to make an album that felt and sounded like this one. Working with guys as good as Danger Mouse and Inflo really helped me find what I was looking for. I hope this is just the start of more music to come.” The incredible synergy between the two is almost palpable, with Dangermouse confessing “I’d been wanting to work with Michael for a while and once we did a song, we just felt like we should keep going. I knew he had a great voice, but his guitar playing on this album was very important.” Kiwanuka ties it all together asserting that “Inflo was the very important last piece that really kept it all going. We really did feel like we were making an important album.”

Honest, unabashed, and ambitious, this new record is Michael Kiwanuka emerging from the emotional cocoon of his first album, ready to secure his position as one of the most exciting and renowned talents or our time.