Solar System

Men and women dressed in white hooded robes swayed to unusual ambient music as coloured lights winked on them from above. You’d have thought this was a religious cult practising an archaic ritual,instead these were fans of Swedish composer Solar Fields aka Magnus Birgersson who’d gathered at Lodi The Garden Restaurant at Lodhi Garden last week to listen to the musician they believed to be among the,“last word in ambient music.”

Birgersson,whose stage name stands for “reflection”,did not disappoint on his maiden performance in India. He travelled through high-tech ambient flow into random broken beats towards powerful sequences to fragmented loops. “I play most of the instruments myself,” said the musician,adding that he was also a self-taught veena and sitar player. He has recorded nine solo albums and more than 50 compilations for various labels. Gamers can find Birgersson’s works in the adventure video game,Mirror’s Edge,for which he has composed 150 tracks.

Performing with Solar Fields were Indian lounge/ambience music composers Shantam and Sattyananda. When asked about the robes,Birgersson said that it was not his idea,but Shantam replied,“We asked guests to wear the robes so that it would look much better when the lights reflected off the plain white garments.”