Photos: Dawuna Shares 'Be Careful II' From Debut Album LOVE'S ARP

Dawuna — the project of Baltimore-based artist Ian Mugerwa, a first generation Ugandan-American whose music blends glitchy neo-soul with silky existentialism — has shared the new track 'Be Careful II' from Love's Arp, his debut album for True Panther due November 6. Listen to 'Be Careful II' here and preorder Love's Arp here.

Photo Credit: Morian Mikhail

On the heavy, early-aughts-indebted 'Be Careful II,' Mugerwa details how yearning can turn into desperation, how the all-consuming nature of new love can curdle into dread and fear of losing it.

Last month, he shared lead single 'Love's Ekongo.' The New York Times said of the track: 'With his voice doubletracked as two tangled melodies, he croons, 'I cannot even talk about it, got me going insane.' Also in the mix are shouting children, wavery pitch-shifted vocals and loops of African drumming, all thickening the confusion.' Watch the music video for 'Love's Ekongo' here:

Love's Arp is a collection of avant devotionals inspired by the full spectrum of Diasporic Black Music — moody and meditative music informed by traditional East African rhythms, the spiritual heft of vintage gospel, and innovative DIY sound design inspired by modern house and techno. It's a record about love — with some songs more specifically about a woman named Love with whom he fell in love. The ideas and arrangements get knottier as the album unfolds, mirroring Mugerwa's understanding of the concept of love's complexities.

It's rooted in R&B, but Mugerwa draws on influences such as D'Angelo, Prince, Tim Hecker, Geese, Kate Bush, Mount Eerie, and Jai Paul, populating his songs with rich bass, airy drones, analog synth leads, and bubbling arpeggios to craft a sound as familiar as it is alien. For his vocals, Mugerwa looked to Marvin Gaye and Brian Wilson as twin North Stars, layering his falsetto into cascading waterfalls of harmony. To flesh out the mixes and give them a higher-fidelity sheen, Mugerwa enlisted Motion Graphics' Joe Williams, who helped beef up the synth sounds and dial in the mix before passing the music to Heba Kadry (Björk, Sade, Gorillaz, Mk.gee) for mastering.

In 2020, as the music industry was on shaky ground, Dawuna released Glass Lit Dream, a virtuosic mix of the Black American musical canons of R&B, gospel, Negro spirituals, and soul combined with gauzy ambient noise. It caught fire, and led Dawuna to become an underground cult hit turned acclaimed artist whose career took off.

Following 2024's Naya and the recently released mixtape African Family Laptop Musick, Love's Arp is Dawuna at his most enveloping, melding disparate musical strains into a singular, expansive, wildly inventive record that transcends its signifiers.

Love's Arp is out November 6 via True Panther; preorder/presave it here.

Tracklist

Love

Love's Ekongo

Love Wants a Family

Love Jaunt

True

God's Love

Love Is…

Be Careful I

Be Careful II

Wet Sheets / Lip Gloss

Your Light

Love for Sly and Brian

Love's Arp

Photo Credit: Morian Mikhail