Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate
Critic Score
Based on 25 reviews
2016 Ratings: #58 / 1004
Year End Rank: #41
User Score
Based on 448 ratings
2016 Rank: #115
Liked by 50 people
July 15, 2016 / Release Date
LP / Format
Polydor / Label
Soul / Genre
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
A.V. Club
Both reflective and observational, he lays himself bare and vulnerable while turning a sharp lens onto society and managing to avoid predictable moralization.
90
The Line of Best Fit

As both a candid portrait of introspection and an exciting step forward with his musical talent, Michael Kiwanuka's Love and Hate beautifully captures the artistic power of vulnerability.

90
American Songwriter

It’s intimate and sprawling, personal and universal, affectionate and daring. It’s also not background music. Sit down in front of your largest speakers, turn up the volume, push play, close your eyes and let Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate envelope your senses while taking you on a journey to the sonic expanses of your mind.

90
Exclaim!

It admittedly spends a lot of time in a downer mode — a more light-amidst-the-dark feel would feel nice — but this sophomore effort remains affecting and affirming in its own quiet way.

90
Clash
There are nods to the early β€˜70s work of Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes in these arrangements, comparisons that these songs are bold enough to withstand.
83
Entertainment Weekly
British singer Michael Kiwanuka did more than just broaden his sound on his second album. He created a whole new musical hybrid: Spaghetti Western Soul.
80
Mojo

Kiwanuka’s talent reasserts itself on a broader canvas through 10 compelling compositions that chart the life and thoughts of a young man growing up fast and in public, all expressed in ways anyone can empathise with.

80
The Guardian

Unlike his own debut, Love & Hate never feels like an album screwing its eyes shut and trying to make believe that it’s 1971. The retro affectations are bound up with stuff that sounds very modern.

80
DIY
This is a landmark album for a previously forgotten musician, an incredibly neat and satisfying collection of songs.
80
NME
While Adele, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith have gone on to be bigger than the Brexit backlash, Kiwanuka has avoided becoming a household name. β€˜Love & Hate’ could change all that.
80
AllMusic
With this release, Kiwanuka has delivered a dark, graceful, and affecting artistic statement that is worth the patience it takes to experience it.
80
musicOMH
Kiwanuka has made a fine record that will likely be enjoyed by those who currently find satisfaction in artists like Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi Washington.
70
Slant Magazine
The resulting sound is prog soul with messages of incredible urgency at its heart, rendered by Kiwanuka and his band with emotion and grandeur. It makes for a weighty and dead-serious album, but it also mistakes the mere mention of exhaustive themes (abandonment, exclusion, regret) for an exploration of them.
69
Pitchfork

Singer Michael Kiwanuka’s new album is a sprawling soul opus full of longing and self-assessment.  It's a bittersweet offering, growing more melancholy as it plays.

Toasterqueen12
83

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π”Όπ•‘π•šπ•€π• π••π•– β„•π•šπ•Ÿπ•–

This caught me at a good time, because I just finished listening to all of Songs in The Key Of Life. Like that album is ass hurtingly long but sometimes I just get in the mood to do the WHOOOOOLE thing. And I guess the goodwill from that carried over to me and my love of Soul music definitely helps too. From the opening guitar riffs I was like "oh this will be a good time" AND I WAS RIGHT!

This ... read more

depechemode4lif
83

A great singer songwriter soul record with vintage instrumentation with a modern flair. The vocals and lyrics are both very passionate and strong. This album actually took me two listens to get all the way through, partly because the lyrics hit me a little to personalmy on tracks like Falling, which prooves to me how well put together the words are. Overall, Great expierence that makes me want to dive deeper into his work

HeTriedToPiss
100

Listening to this album improved my vertical jump by 300%πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

75

Best: Cold Little Heart, Black Man In A White World

BillyT_
82

The contrast of clipped lead guitar with the gorgeous strings and piano on Love & Hate is brilliant. Michael Kiwanuka strikes that perfect balance between rock and soul, with neither genre superseding the other. The whole album is a juggling act that shows just how talented an artist the man is.

Favourite Song - Cold Little Heart

zcqn
81

second relisten. very pleasant album 8.1/10

favourites: cold little heart, falling, love & hate
least favourites: black man in a white world (still pretty good and catchy)

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Added on: April 1, 2016