The two albums that shaped Michael Kiwanuka

Posted On April 22, 2025April 22, 2025

There are no shortage of influences to the music of Michael Kiwanuka. This is a man whose twin heroes, Otis Redding and Bill Withers, touch every corner of his music. From the sharp, hook-filled songwriting, warm swathes of guitar and cooed choirs of backing vocals to his own, completely astonishing singing voice. However, there are countless other musicians the Muswell Hill native takes inspiration from to make music that’s thrillingly his own.

Everyone from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Kendrick Lamar and Andre 3000 gets a look in from Kiwanuka’s omnivorous musical palette. However, his earliest influences come to the fore in an interview conducted by Sarah Nechamkin for Interview Magazine in 2019, the year his third album Kiwanuka won the Mercury Music Prize.

Nechamkin asks Kiwanuka about his earliest influences and right from the off, Kiwanuka says “there are no curveballs here”, before talking about two of the most beloved music acts of all time. A typically down-to-earth response from the man. Never trust someone who says that they were listening to Einstürzende Neubauten and The Idiot at 13 years old and not Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix.

In fairness to the lad, Kiwanuka did have a much, much more interesting introduction to Kurt Cobain’s lot than most. While most would have just heard ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ somewhere and started from there, Kiwanuka started from Nirvana at their rawest and most exciting. In a way, he started with Nirvana at their most authentic, with them as a live band.

Which albums shaped Michael Kiwanuka’s music?

He said, “The first album I had of Nirvana’s was this live album a friend had called From the Muddy Banks of Wishkah. I just loved the title. I was like, “What’s the Muddy Banks of Wishkah? What’s the Wishkah?” I never heard Nevermind or any of those records. The first time I heard “Lithium” and things like that were these really fast, raw live versions. …They have a really fast version of “Heart-Shaped Box” on it, and that was really influential to me. There was a lot of emotion.”

As for Hendrix, his love of the Seattle guitar genius pops up throughout the interview. At first, he speaks of the first Hendrix song that truly made him love music, saying “A friend let me listen to Are You Experienced….‘The Wind Cries Mary’came on. I thought, “Man. This music thing’s cool.” Before going on to say how the man himself would be a dream collaborator in the studio and a guest of honour at his ultimate dinner party.

On the surface, not a lot unites Cobain and Hendrix other than both being artists lost tragically young and subsequently press-ganged into that ghoulish marketing campaign known as the 27 Club. However, Michael Kiwanuka might just be the best example of what unites them on a musical level.

Both of them were able to create music that was simultaneously raw and emotional, yet still transcendent. The aforementioned ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ is a perfect example of this. It’s the sound of nothing more complex than an immensely talented musician, in a studio, doing what he does best. Yet it becomes so much more than that on record.

While Hendrix was able to do that with his musicianship, Cobain was able to do that with his songwriting. Create something real and raw, but was still able to take the listener to a different, more exciting place. In Michael Kiwanuka, we have someone who was listening closely to both and be equally inspired by them. Sharp, hook-filled songwriting littered with hooks and emotion, combined with warm, dextrous playing. The very best of both worlds.

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