After 30 years in London – a childhood in Muswell Hill, and young adulthood spent between Camden and Kentish Town – just over a year ago, Michael Kiwanuka moved to Southampton. His wife found a job there, and he followed. Southampton is hardly a destination spot for an artist – it’s no LA or Berlin – but Kiwanuka saw possibility in the move. “New experiences are always good for writing music,” he thought, and while the port city is “lame if you want excitement”, it’s a perfect blank canvas. “You’ve got so much opportunity to start a community. Just put a studio in there, put an art gallery there, see what happens, see what comes. People have nothing to do so they’ll come, you know. Even the cinema gets sold out there!”
But while his label and PR’s offices remain in London, he won’t be able to completely escape the capital: back and forth as he is for interviews, photo shoots and meetings. This time around, sitting in a cafe on the Whitechapel Road sipping a can of San Pellegrino, he is here to promote his third album, Kiwanuka, a ruminative collection of soul and rock songs which signals the guitarist’s new age of self-acceptance.
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