Mogwaa - Hazy Dreams (2023)

​Fresh from the recent Bandcamp feature on his own brand of dancefloor-ready modern boogie, Seungyoung Lee (aka Mogwaa) arrives back on MM Discos with his - and our - first full length exercise. With six tracks per side of 80s influenced synth and bossa badness, ‘Hazy Dreams’ is an exercise in simplicity, and more proof of the ever-expanding musical horizons of one of the scene’s most virtuosic instrumentalists.

Pairing a sensitivity to the construction of ambient, funk, bossa and cassette-tape 80s experiments with his own cinematic subtlety, ‘Hazy Dreams’ takes a gentle, minimalistic approach, crafting its own escapist world that offers a welcome diversion from the steady flow of busy balearica and downtempo.

Opening track ‘Full Bloom’ paints a picture of midsummer at dawn, some clear-skied island where lush vegetation climbs through hibiscus gardens. ‘Nacimiento’ is an AOR/bossa crossover evoking West Coast yachting in full afternoon, and A3, ‘Soothing’, adds a touch of wistfulness with reverb-doused guitars over meandering bass motifs.

The easy kick-and-snare combo of ‘Levitation’ sets the scene for a drum machine love affair, unrequited love on the rocks, and ‘Flashback’ plays with short delay trails and off-kilter melodic sequences, where you feel the soft presence of the nebula approaching at the break of day. Closing out the A-side, ‘Dispatching’ reaches out even further into the imagined cosmos of Mogwaa’s picture-perfect world, portraying an ambience at dusk, observing, calmy, as puffed-up pink clouds melt into the evening canvas.

On the other side, Mogwaa explores quiet corners with ‘Illusions’, a slow meditation on the nature of simple presence, and ‘Echoes of You’, a stream of subdued brush strokes that crescendo into higher frequencies on gently undulating pads. B3, ‘Moondance’, ups the tempo and recalls classic Mogwaa with its sideways shuffle and starry melodic refrain, pivoting through folk-dance moods and surprising chord changes.

Nearing the end of the album, ‘Footprints’ wades through tall grass in search of altered states, infinite and hypnotic, changing course only to crouch down and study the landscape, and B5, ‘It always comes and goes’, pictures the to-and-fro of jetstreams and comets in the blinding midday sky. Finally we have the closing credits of ‘Swingin’ that looks off into the horizon, jaunty and exalted, a guitar-led tribute to an easy-going world, and ultimately mindful of the power of dreams.

We’re humbled to have such a special record for our first full-length release on the label. Limited stock - don’t sleep on this