Ian Mugerwa escaped hometown racism and a traumatic relationship to move to New York, where his electronic R&B has become a word-of-mouth triumph
Few albums that get dropped into the internet void then take on a life of their own through word of mouth alone. But when New York-based artist Ian Mugerwa, AKA Dawuna, created a record of luminous R&B laced with gospel undertones and experimental electronics, it couldn’t hide in the digital wilderness for long.
“When I put Glass Lit Dream online [in November 2020], I was in a hectic mental space, so it was this very impulsive decision. Would I do that now? Probably not,” the 25-year-old admits. “I was sitting on this thing that I thought was really good but the music industry was in disarray with Covid. So I didn’t even know how it would reach people.” Nonetheless it did, attracting the attention of ambient nomads Space Afrika and jazz drummer Moses Boyd. The latter describes the album to me as “so sick ... an intricately beautiful collection of songs and sonics. An incredible journey of music”.
Continue reading...by Nathan Evans via Electronic music | The Guardian
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