It was in the half-light and early hours of the morning, in a small warehouse in Brooklyn, NY, that Glass Lit Dream was born, one of the most extraordinary works of the post-pandemic period. Between work routines, personal ghosts, and an existential struggle, Ian Mugerwa aka Dawuna conceived a true album experience, whose strength moves, challenges, and gets under your skin. A living sound installation, with songs anchored in his own life and luxurious textures in the compositions. From torment came epiphany. From this complex but fragile sonic architecture was born a strange and brilliant infusion of RnB, the like of which has perhaps never been heard before. Originally made available via Bandcamp, the album was immediately appreciated by the duo Space Afrika and jazz drummer Moses Boyd. About a year later, the songs were remastered and released in physical format – which quickly sold out and became artefacts on the internet.
In a dream that unites the rhythmic structures of D’Angelo with the echoes of Arthur Russell, passing through the enigmatic spheres of Dean Blunt and the spectral gospel of the Numero Group catalogue, languid voices gravitate alongside microscopic noise, ASMR cascades and opiate melodies. Dawuna takes up the historical role of African-American music and projects paths to a possible future. She uses the exploratory language of electronics to align these elements in a work of inconceivable absolute definition. This margin reserved for the unknown is not only essential to the mestizo identity of his music, but it also fuels his creative resolutions. He endeavours not to get bogged down in aesthetic hermeticism but rather conceives a garb that is alien to the pop sensibility that runs through major themes such as The General or Bad Karma, two excellent singles that helped us understand his potential genius from an early age.
The feeling that we’re facing an important revelation comes over us and haunts us, listen after listen. A sense of urgency, but also an invitation to slow down and contemplate (albeit with demons in the background).
After the promise of a visit that didn’t materialise, this is the moment of their debut here – still and always perfectly vital. Reports of intimate and surreal performances leave the best of expectations for this surely unforgettable evening. NA
