Roopam Garg (born October 17, 1995) is an American musician, guitarist and composer. He is known for his idiosyncratic work with the guitar and in

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

, and has recorded and released several singles.

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

has described his work as "some of the most compelling orchestral guitar music around today".

Career

In 2015, Garg enrolled at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. It was in Berklee where he began his project The Surrealist, initially as an

experimental metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, and experimental) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional soun ...

project. He released his debut single Self Spiral leading up to an EP titled "Naked Awareness", followed by three singles in 2017 "Origami", "Lux", and "Echo End". He graduated from Berklee in 2018, with a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

degree. Garg also received the 2018 Berklee Performance-Division Guitar Scholarship Award. In 2018, shortly after graduating, Garg performed at the UK Tech- Fest 2018 and Dissonance Festival 2018. Later that year, he endorsed

Kiesel Guitars Kiesel Guitars is an American manufacturer of custom electric guitars and electric bass guitars located in Southern California, with a heritage dating back to 1946. In 2015, Kiesel Guitars split from Carvin Corporation, taking the guitar and bass ...

as well as Stone Age Guitar Products. The year 2019 represented a change in direction for Garg. He left Kiesel Carvin Guitars and formed an endorsement with Abasi Concepts, a guitar company initiated by

Tosin Abasi Oluwatosin Ayoyinka Olumide Abasi (born January 7, 1983), is an American musician, best known as the founder and lead guitarist of the instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders. He has recorded and released five albums with Animal ...

Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent band ...

, and shortly after, endorsed Fishman Pickups as well. He also shifted his focus from progressive

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

-based works, feeling progressive metal to be a "sterile environment" that "seeks perfection", to releasing darker, more ambient-based works, feeling it was "more liberating as a composer", describing ambient music to be a "blank canvas where anything goes".

Influences

Garg credits

film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

such as those of Angelo Milli,

Ben Salisbury Ben Salisbury (born 1970) is a British composer, particularly known for his work in film and television. He has also worked as a co-writer, arranger and musician with a number of bands. He studied music at Newcastle University and Bournemouth U ...

and

Geoff Barrow Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak and supergroup Quakers, and has scored several films. Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the s ...

, as a significant influence on his work, stating how "good film scores are able to bring out anxiety, hope or depression within the characters, without which the film would be devoid of human connection". His favored bands and musicians include Animals As Leaders,

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas ...

Taylor Deupree Taylor Deupree (born April 30, 1971), is an American electronic musician, photographer, graphic designer and mastering engineer. He is most known for the founding of the 12k, 12k record label, along with his work as a member of Prototype 909, and ...

Nils Frahm Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upr ...

Jon Hopkins Jonathan Julian Hopkins (born 15 August 1979) is an English musician and producer who writes and performs electronic music. He began his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap, and has produced but also contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Co ...

, CUTS, and Mark Pritchard.

Discography

The Surrealist

EPs

*''Naked Awareness'' (2016)

Singles

*''"Self Spiral"'' (2016) *''"Origami"'' (2017) *''"Lux"'' (2017) *''"Echo End"'' (2017) *''"Mira"'' (2018) *''"Walking Stick Enigma"'' (2019) *''"Terminal"'' (2019) *''"Kaleido"'' (2019) *''"Arcadia"'' (2019) *''"origami"'' (2020) *''"The Flowering of Human Consciousness"'' (2022) *''"A Repeated Flow From Beauty To Higher Beauty"'' (2019)

References

External links

Guitar World Magazine">2020 interview with'' Guitar World Magazine
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Garg, Roopam Living people Ambient musicians Dark ambient musicians">Ambient_musicians.html" ;"title="Living people Ambient musicians">Living people Ambient musicians Dark ambient musicians 21st-century American guitarists American male guitarists 21st-century American musicians Experimental musicians American experimental musicians Progressive metal guitarists Eight-string guitarists Lead guitarists Experimental guitarists American experimental guitarists Experimental composers Electronic musicians American electronic musicians Berklee College of Music alumni 1995 births 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians