Singer Michael Kiwanuka exchanges his modern electronics and old-school soul sound for a smaller, more conventional take on vintage Motown on Small Changes, his fourth album.
Small Changes, released Friday, comes more than five years after his Mercury Prize-winning LP Kiwanuka. Kiwanuka’s guitar remains rough and sweet, basslines bouncy and the harmonies richly warm. There’s certainly no denying the understated power of his voice.
But outside of that, the album leaves some to be desired — lyrically and sonically.
A professor of mine featured “Floating Parade,” Small Changes’ first single, on a studying playlist. Ultimately, this is where the songs feel most at home — in the background, adding pleasant, inoffensive noise to otherwise silent environments.
The album opens with “Floating Parade,” an easygoing effort propelled by a sweeping string arrangement and insistent bassline. The song expands gorgeously, introducing eclectic and electric strings as a recurring presence on the LP.
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A delicious guitar solo in the middle of “Small Changes” only makes one wish for more where that came from. By “One and Only,” the ever present strings became tiresome, wearing on the listener not even halfway through the album’s 11 tracks.
Small Changes is best when purely intent on curating a groove and letting Kiwanuka’s melodies stand for themselves.
Take “Rebel Soul” for instance. Haunting piano chords and rhythm sections take center stage, but they leave a clearing for Kiwanuka to croon through. As soon as his voice moves within the track’s emotional core, the strings return.
Kiwanuka conjures emotional weight simply from the tone of his voice. Strings have no place in the mix other than to pay unnecessary credence to the soul sound of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“Lowdown (part i)” further demonstrates Small Changes at its best. The interplay of the organ, vocal harmonies, and rhythm section is tantalizing. Another stellar guitar solo appears, this time evoking Buffalo Springfield.
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A galloping beat and intriguing synthesizer are featured on “Follow Your Dreams,” which is ultimately bogged down by Kiwanuka’s saccharine platitude on following dreams. Haven’t we heard this enough times before?
On autopilot, the song is savory enough, but after a close listen, the ridiculousness of the lyrics come to the forefront. Kiwanuka, on the other hand, proves he’s capable of much more than lyricism such as “Follow your dreams / Like a lost child” and “All the time we spend / Tryna beat defeat.”
The rest of the album follows a similar pattern. It features nice enough grooves that are tuneful and foot-tapping worthy, but syrupy and somewhat disinteresting, growing tedious the more you continue. It’s exciting when a new guitar tone is used for a solo or a buzzing riff, but then the songs return to plodding along.
The songs beg to be played with the end credits of a movie, or in my professor’s case, as music to not really listen to when concentrating on something else.
