Sahil Bhatia, Nakul Sharma's candid interview ahead of Burudu's show

Burudu playing live at Magnetic Fields, an annual music carnival in Rajasthan

When we first heard of Mumbai-based band Burudu from a friend, freshly returned from Ziro Music Festival - a five-day annual musical fest nestled in the idyllic hills of Arunachal Pradesh - we were confused about what to make of it. Our first guess was - "it's an electronic act". But with time, as we delved deeper into the nuances of their first album, Ditties, we understood that that comment is both cursory and incomprehensive.

And we are looking to understand Burudu better in the lead-up to their gig this Thursday. Their album has been playing on loop since morning. The songs remind us of rail travel as a child. We would fight for the side-lower berth on the train and aimlessly stare out of the window for hours, unable to wrap our heads around whether we were moving ahead or everything else outside was moving backwards. The other best way to describe what we are hearing is, continuously transient.

Sahil Bhatia and Nakul Sharma

So, Burudu is electronic music, yes, but it is stitched together with percussions, drums and other instrumental pieces that have a sort of muted grandeur. If Burudu was a chair it would be a Lazyboy with antique upholstery - motorised and new-age but with padding that looks like it belongs on an opera set.

"The music that we perform live is largely from our first album. It was an important stage for us musically because we gave a lot of time to that album and discovered ourselves through it. Our music essentially is electronic, but it has very heavy orchestral elements and a strong sense of post-rock music," says 36-year-old Nakul Sharma who plays the keys and percussion instruments and is one-half of Burudu. "Burudu is just a sound that appealed to us phonetically," he adds.

"The music essentially stays the same but it's how we perform it that evolves. So, over time we've added a lot of different instruments. We experiment with a bunch of sounds live to see how they go well together," says drummer and keyboard player Sahil Bhatia, 38, (the two-piece act's other half) while chronicling their musical evolution.

What can we look forward to? "We'll be showcasing our album, Ditties, which musically, will be a journey through various emotions while featuring a lot of groove and synth work. We last played in March and we are very excited to take the stage this Thursday," Bhatia tells us over the phone.

On: July 12, 9 pm onwards
At: The Quarter, Royal Opera House, Girgaum.
Log on to: insider.in
Cost Rs 749 to Rs 1,499 (prices subject to change)

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