SOUNDTRACK: MICHAEL KIWANUKA: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #112 (November 16, 2020).
Michael Kiwanuka was on my radar for a few years, although I never actually knew who was singing these songs that I liked.
His previous album Love & Hate was hugely praised (although I missed it that year). It and his most recent album Kiwanuka are fantastic. His songs are big with lots of electric guitar parts. They are catchy but complex. And his voice is just amazing–somehow quiet and powerful at the same time.
The warm texture of his voice and tenderness of his soul belie the depth of his songwriting, which ranges from sociopolitical works to songs revealing the inner chambers of self-exploration.
For this Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, Kiwanuka performs
from a “rainy London” flat that’s dimly lit with a vintage feel.
Kiwanuka plays five songs, but they are very different from the album versions. Three of these songs are played on acoustic guitar. This shows that the kernel of these songs is wonderful without and soaring electric guitar.
The Mercury Prize-winning musician evokes an all-encompassing softness in spirit as he leads viewers into the “Light,” the first of five songs in his Tiny Desk (home) concert.
The first two songs “Light” and “Hard To Say Goodbye” (both from Kiwanuka) are played on acoustic guitar. They are pretty and gentle, warm and inviting.
He switches to the electric guitar for “Hero” (also from Kiwanuka). On the album, the song is broken into two parts (I never realized this). You can hear the difference in the parts very distinctly here as part two sounds really different from the first. He stays with the electric guitar for “Cold Little Heart” (the opening track from Love & Hate). You can hear the consistency in his songwriting with this earlier track.
He returns to Kiwanuka for the final song, “Solid Ground.” But he plays this song on an organ–a beautiful rich sound.
Even with the different instrumentation, the songs retain their essential sound. This set offers wonderful insight into Kiwanuka’s performance. (That’s Kiwanuka on stage in the movie Yesterday, by the way)
[READ: December 10, 2020] “Vera Something”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
It’s December 10. Adam O’Fallon Price, author of The Hotel Neversink, would walk five hundred miles, but not a step further. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
This story felt very different from the other ones so far. I was certain that it was an old story. It is set in the 1950s and I believed it was written then and that’s why it felt so different. It wasn’t, it is very current. Then I read in the link above that this story was a chapter from the novel The Hotel Neversink. However, this chapter was removed from the novel because it didn’t quite fit.
I don’t know if Adam tweaked this into a short story or if it remains as it was. But it feels slower, yes, like from a novel. And although it felt slower, it was in no way less engaging.
Sam met Vera at the Hotel Neversink in the Catskills–during a singles event. They were both from New York City, in their twenties and more or less pressured by their parents to find a mate. They had a surprisingly good time together. Sam had taken her picture (with his Polaroid) and she had written her phone number in the white part. (more…)
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Michael Kiwanuka’s previous album Kiwanuka was a slow burning joy for me. I liked every song that I heard from it even though I never actively listened to it. And then I bought it and liked it even more.
I Just Read About That... 