Michael Kiwanuka at The Hope, Brighton

Michael Kiwanuka is maybe not a name you will have heard of yet, but I am sure you will in the near future. Mark my words! Well now actually. So there you go.

Michael is a soul singer/songwriter who blends Soul, Jazz and acoustic guitar folk and so far has a very vintage-sound to his recordings. He is already starting to make a serious name for himself, with a Radio One session for Giles Peterson and support slots for Adele and Laura Marling and he has been compared to his idols Bill Withers and Otis Reading.

And like his idol Michael Kiwanuka's music has an easy Sunday morning fell to it, like Bill Withers, Kiwanuka can just pick up his acoustic guitar, strum and sing with easy and soul. His music isn't over-produced, it has a vintage sound that lets his voice be the at the centre and allows the song to breathe and have space. You could call his songs stark, maybe a little haunting, apparently up beat and summery smiles but there is a hint of darkness to them and they are all the better for that reality. In end Michael Kiwanuka is a classic soul man, not from the 60's or 70's or Southern USA or Chicago but very much from now and North London, Tottenham to be pricise, via a Ugandan heritage.

Kiwanuka won't win any prizes for originality, he is not braking new ground. Tracks like "Tell Me a Tale" and "I'm Getting Ready" follow a well tested path of old style soul music, but some times an artist does something so well that it matters not a jot that someone else has walked the path before. Michael Kiwanuka seems to be just such as artist. The two tracks I mentioned are two of my favourite tracks of this year and are the title tracks of his first two EP's. They are like two beautiful warm summer breathes of fresh air.

Check out "I'm Getting Ready" and "Tell Me a Tale" on You Tube and then buy yourself a ticket to his gig at the Hope on Tuesday the 29th November.

You will love him. I tell you what. If you don't absolutely love his music post a message back here and I will eat my words.