Love & Hate

Produced by top-level studio-scientists Inflo, Danger Mouse and Bees’ Paul Butler, Kiwanuka’s second album opens with “Cold Little Heart,” an extravagant orchestrated near-ten-minute progressive-soul odyssey which sets the stage for an album whose ambition is matched by its quality. Love & Hate is a soul/R’n’B album and the orchestration, the heavily reverb-ed drums and Kiwanuka’s tender yet commanding vocals all have a retro soul feel — the opulence of Rotary Connection, the intimacy of Terry Callier, the acoustic-guitar soul of Bill Withers all feel influential here — but this isn’t a retro album and the songs aren’t pastiches. Rather, Love & Hate’s songs often transcend their influences, subtly redefining what a contemporary soul album can sound like. Love & Hate is big, bold, expansive and at times also quite beautiful.