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It’s a relief to hear good news from Michael Kiwanuka. After suffering a stroke several months ago, the singer-songwriter revealed he’s on the path to recovery and that his next album, Fudge, is coming October 23 via Polydor. The project, his first self-produced effort since his 2012 debut, was written “almost concurrently” with the songwriting sessions for 2024’s Small Changes.
In a note posted to Instagram, Kiwanuka explained that his stroke was the result of bleeding in his brain due to high blood pressure: “The brain injury I suffered was quite severe so there’s a lot of rehab to be done. It’s a long, tough journey ahead, but I’m fighting to get better.” The full note can be found below.
Instead of passing off the production of Fudge to Danger Mouse and Inflo, his usual collaborators, Kiwanuka decided to tackle the work himself with help from producer Dom Monks and his strings collaborator Rosie Danvers. That decision was in part inspired by stumbling upon an interview with jazz pianist Chick Corea, in which he said, “You have to learn to be certain about what you like, not what you think sounds good to someone else… Whatever you think is beautiful, that’s what’s beautiful, and you have to pursue that.”