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Jul 22, 2016With Burton as his accomplice, the singer has learned how to juxtapose contrasting textures and emotions for maximum impact, and it makes for one of the year's most consistently engaging listens.
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Jul 19, 2016This is an album that sounds like a world of music in itself.
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Jul 15, 2016Love & Hate is a massive leap in accomplishment for Kiwanuka.
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Jun 22, 2016As confident a second statement as you could wish for, full of strong melodies, affecting lyrics, sharp playing, immense arrangements and sympathetic production. [Jun 2016, p.86]
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Jul 27, 2016It 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
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Jul 15, 2016By working with a producer who sought him out and by letting the songs lead the way, he has delivered a timeless album.
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Jul 13, 2016It’s intimate and sprawling, personal and universal, affectionate and daring.
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Jul 6, 2016As 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.
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Jul 14, 2016References to that style [Morricone’s sound] may have become cliché, but Kiwanuka personalizes it through the individuality of his melodies, the dynamics of the instrumentation and his lyrical point of view.
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Jul 21, 2016The result is a fantastic album, almost cinematic in its scope, which sweeps the listener along and leaves them enthralled.
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Jul 21, 2016This is a landmark album for a previously forgotten musician, an incredibly neat and satisfying collection of songs.
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Jul 14, 2016The music makes space for him to ache.
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Jul 14, 2016With this release, Kiwanuka has delivered a dark, graceful, and affecting artistic statement that is worth the patience it takes to experience it.
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Jul 14, 2016A beautiful melody, wrapped in gauzy textures, [Falling is] a fantastic song, exquisitely arranged, something Love & Hate is packed with: the work of an artist coming into his own.
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Jul 13, 2016Kiwanuka has brought in the production heft of Danger Mouse, as well as up-and-comer Inflo, to seriously up the ante.
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Jul 11, 2016As an album that is both outward an inward looking the balance of the two is well measured.
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Q MagazineJun 22, 2016A record that hasn't cut itself off from its predecessor, yet sounds more dramatically expansive and forward-facing. [Jul 2016, p.102]
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UncutJun 22, 2016[A] darkly beautiful tour de force. [Jun 2016, p.75]
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Jul 13, 2016Love & Hate shows lateral growth in its procession of art-rock odysseys and more standard fare, and proof that Kiwanuka can wield power over a number of arrangements, even dense ones.
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Jul 25, 2016While it’s a creative step forward for Kiwanuka, it’s still tough to get a sense of just who he is at times.
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Jul 18, 2016A squally electric guitar solo lets you know Love & Hate isn’t just another slice of vintage soul, but something a little more intriguing than that.
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Jul 13, 2016“Cold Little Heart” builds from piano and the merest shiver of strings to a Morricone-esque pitch of intensity, before Kiwanuka himself arrives five minutes in. It’s a big, powerful statement of intent that the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to.
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Jun 22, 2016It’s true, Love & Hate will win no prizes for innovation. But this s more than just gussied up heritage soul to peddle to nostalgic baby-boomers.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 59 out of 63
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Mixed: 2 out of 63
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Negative: 2 out of 63
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Feb 5, 2020
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Aug 20, 2019
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Oct 7, 2016