Techno Star Returns After Chance Burger Van Meeting

Swedish producer Axel Willner, known as the Field, released a series of perfect techno albums. Then in 2018, he stopped. He had an identity crisis and became a kindergarten chef. Now he is back with a new record, *Now You Exist*. The reason for his return? A chance meeting at a burger van. Last February, Willner went to Stockholm’s Funky Chicken food truck. While waiting for his order, he noticed another man named Axel standing two places behind him. This was unusual, as the name is rare among Swedish men in their 40s. "That Axel was Axel Boman, a pioneer of Scandinavian club music and co-founder of the dance label Studio Barnhus. They started talking during the long wait. Boman asked Willner what he was doing. "I had been silent for a very long time," Willner says. He left the food truck with an invitation to send Boman some music. That exchange led to a new label deal and his first album in eight years.