For the self-produced FUDGE, Michael Kiwanuka quite clearly set out with one mission in mind: to make the music he loves. The first words we hear on opening track “Summer Clothes” aren’t Kiwanuka’s, in fact, but a recording of jazz legend Chick Corea saying exactly this: “What music is about... is creating the kind of things that you think are beautiful.” FUDGE is a tender, considered offering of art for the sake of it, a tribute to his own definition of beauty that never veers into selfish or self-serving songwriting. Kiwanuka savors each strum and softly-padded drumbeat, and even the friction from discordant moments or clashing notes (“You Sent Me Flying”) never feels out of tune or place. Half of FUDGE‘s tracks clock in at five minutes or over, which invites the listener to stretch out with languid, slow-building meditations (“Love in My Heart”), hushed confessions of love (“Sing”), or dusky, panoramic instrumentals (like “Steve’s Paradise,” in which Kiwanuka’s voice is a sparse presence—we don’t hear him until about halfway through—giving the organ, sliding guitar, and backing harmonies to take the lead). FUDGE is a tribute to taking your time.