Michael Kiwanuka’s Fudge Arrives Without Danger Mouse and Inflo, and After a Stroke

Michael Kiwanuka’s fifth studio album, Fudge, was released on 23 October 2026. It is the first album since his 2012 debut to be made without his longtime collaborators Danger Mouse and Inflo, and it arrives after a stroke he has spoken about publicly.

The release was announced on 24 September 2026. mxdwn reported that the album had been delayed by nearly a year because of Kiwanuka’s ongoing ill health. Reviews in NME and Clash both address how the record relates to that period.

Release Details and the Label Question

Fudge was set for release on 23 October 2026, according to mxdwn, and NME gives the same date. mxdwn lists 12 tracks in this order: Summer Clothes, California, Just Another Moment, Drowning in Your Heart, Love in My Heart, Across the Sky, Stars, You Sent Me Flying, Move in My Direction, Steve’s Paradise, Sing, Swings and Roundabouts.

The sources disagree on the label. NME’s review names Polydor Records, while mxdwn names Interscope Records in its announcement.

mxdwn’s 24 September article says Kiwanuka addressed fans about his health on social media the day before the announcement. The album’s title and release date were set out in that same announcement.

mxdwn says the album shows Kiwanuka rediscovering the simple joy of making music, which sits alongside the playful tone NME later describes.

Release Fact
Fudge was released on 23 October 2026 and has 12 tracks, according to mxdwn. NME gives the same release date but names Polydor Records, while mxdwn names Interscope Records.

What the Twelve Tracks Sound Like

Salon describes an airy, psychedelic record built on layered strings and a cello that moves past the piano. It calls the record a daydream in afternoon light, and says the cello has a lusty glide past innocent piano notes.

The album opens with a snippet of a Chick Corea interview that leads into Summer Clothes, a nostalgic song. Salon says the snippet is about making things you find beautiful, and says Kiwanuka achieves this. It describes the album’s themes as a mix of lofty hope and languid melancholia.

Clash picks out individual songs. California has a trip-hop beat, and the review compares its distorted vocals to techniques Damon Albarn used for Gorillaz. Just Another Moment starts as yacht rock with a drum-machine pulse before shifting into cinematic orchestral arrangements. Across the Sky is mostly acoustic guitar and whispered vocals, which the review suggests may be a nod to his roots, with memories of open-mic nights at Spiritual, a bar in Camden, lingering behind it. Stars carries fuzzed-out guitar lines that Clash links to his live shows.

NME describes muted rhythm sections, warm guitar tones and strings over soulful vocals. It highlights Love in My Heart, which builds through space-like synths, crashing cymbals and fuzzy, virtuosic guitar before ending on a piano outro. NME also calls the record playful and experimental, with a bubblegum visual identity.

NME says the vocals on California show fragility and a melancholic tone. It describes a chaotic violin that fades out at the climax of Drowning in Your Heart, likening the moment to a chapter abruptly closing. It says the spacious chorus of Sing carries extra emotional weight given his vocal recovery.

Production, Studios and Catalogue Position

Clash and NME say Kiwanuka produced the album himself, and Clash says he handled every sonic detail. mxdwn says that makes it the first album since Home Again in 2012 that he has made without Danger Mouse and Inflo. Salon says Inflo and Danger Mouse produced his 2024 album Small Changes.

mxdwn says Kiwanuka recorded in Southampton and Frome. NME describes a studio near his Southampton home and names multi-instrumentalist Joe Connell among his trusted collaborators. Clash says prize money from his Mercury Prize win helped fund a studio near his home. Salon describes the Southampton studio as simple and says the album was modestly engineered.

mxdwn says the initial recordings were passed to producer Dom Monks, who has worked with Laura Marling and Big Thief, and to longtime strings collaborator Rosie Danvers, who has worked with Adele and Coldplay, to finish. NME also names both as later contributors.

Fudge is Kiwanuka’s fifth studio album. NME says it traces a continuous path from Small Changes, which Salon says was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Inflo and Danger Mouse.

The Stroke and the Recording Timeline

Salon reports that Kiwanuka told the Guardian in a September 2026 interview that he had a haemorrhagic stroke in July 2025. NME says he was 38 at the time and that the stroke was caused by high blood pressure he did not know he had. It says he had emergency surgery, months of intensive care and many more months of rehabilitation at a medical centre in Hampshire, where he still is.

NME says the stroke damaged his brain, affecting his breathing and speech, and that he has had to retrain his vocal cords. It says his live shows in the summer of 2025 were cancelled, followed by a period of silence. Salon says he is still rehabilitating, still struggles to speak, and has other impairments he has not made public.

NME and Clash both say the album was recorded or largely finished before the stroke. Clash says it was broadly completed before then and that its material reflects his life before those events. Clash also says news of his ill health hangs over the record.

Salon says no one knows when Kiwanuka will tour again.

Early Critical Response

Clash gives Fudge 8 out of 10. Its review lists Robin Murray as the writer and describes the album as highly cohesive and unified. It also cites a raw, remarkable intimacy on Move in My Direction, and praises Kiwanuka’s consistency across his catalogue. The closing paragraph says that receiving work of this quality is worth celebrating.

Salon’s review by Melanie McFarland is highly positive. It describes the album as sunlit and daydreamy, and says the record carries extra poignancy given Kiwanuka’s health.

NME’s review by Fred Garratt-Stanley is also very positive. It describes Fudge as both an unexpected gift and a snapshot of Kiwanuka’s creative state before his illness. It says listeners are lucky to have an artist like him.

Tour, Chart and Award Status

Salon says no one knows when Kiwanuka will tour again, and the review mentions no specific tour plans.

The sources give no chart projection for the album. NME notes that Kiwanuka is a Mercury Prize winner, and Clash refers to the Mercury win only as a past achievement.