Michael Kiwanuka Releases 'Fudge' After Stroke — SkimNews
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- Michael Kiwanuka suffered a stroke and is now in residential care in Hampshire, and is releasing Fudge "because I don't know how long it will be until I can release another record"
- Fudge was recorded concurrently with Small Changes in a Southampton studio that "looks like a medieval hut," using Kiwanuka's live band rather than his long-term production collaborators Danger Mouse and Inflo
- Small Changes, Kiwanuka's fourth album released in November 2024, featured session musicians including bassist Pino Palladino and drummer James Gadson, plus R&B producer Jimmy Jam on organ across three tracks
- Fudge was announced in 2025, briefly reviewed in heritage rock magazines, then disappeared from release schedules without explanation until Kiwanuka's statement to the Guardian at the end of last month
- The album opens with a 1980s recording of jazz pianist Chick Corea advising: "You have to be certain what you like, not what you think sounds good to someone else"
- The reviewer judges Fudge's songs "uniformly memorable" and possibly melodically stronger than Small Changes, with gritty live-in-the-studio tape hiss balanced by lush string arrangements
Why it matters: Kiwanuka's three gold albums, Mercury Prize win, Grammy nomination, and the ongoing virality of Cold Little Heart have established him as a major artist — making his stroke and the indefinite pause on new recordings a significant loss for his audience. The fact that Fudge, a rougher but melodically rich second record, exists at all means fans get a previously shelved body of work precisely because Kiwanuka doesn't know when he'll be well enough to make another.
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