Faze Action Detail Sixth Album ‘Distant Dreams’

Brothers Simon and Robin Lee will release their sixth Faze Action album on May 1. Titled Distant Dreams, the record pulls from a wide map of dance music: Pakistani disco, the afro-funk of William Onyeabor, and the analogue warmth of 70s and 80s cult records.

The first single “Batanayi” is out now. It foregrounds guest vocalist Zeke Manyikay over a horn-driven groove, with live musicianship replacing the locked electronic grids that defined earlier Faze Action work. The shift feels deliberate—a production duo with three decades in the game choosing imperfection and human touch over precision.

This kind of globalist disco isn’t new for them. Across previous albums the pair have threaded South Asian strings and West African rhythms through club-ready structures. What makes Distant Dreams worth noting is the scope of the synthesis. Moving from Pakistani film music to Nigerian electro-funk within a single album is a curatorial act as much as a production one.

The album arrives on Faze Action’s own label. No tracklist has been released. “Batanayi” is the only audio so far, and it sits comfortably next to recent work by contemporary disco revisionists like Nu Genea or Lord Echo—artists who also understand that the most interesting dance music often comes from very specific local scenes colliding.

The May 1 date makes it a spring arrival, a timing that fits music designed to sound like it was played by a band you’d stumble upon in a humid basement club. Faze Action are not trying to reinvent disco. They are simply reminding you how wide its borders really are.