Dawuna — the project of Baltimore-based artist Ian Mugerwa, a first generation Ugandan-American whose music blends glitchy neo-soul with silky existentialism — recently announced Love’s Arp, his debut album for True Panther due November 6.

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.

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.