Earthly Spirits

SMYAH: Last year, together with the music academy I teach in we organised a song writing camp as a part of an international music conference and festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. Alexander was part of the festival and he passed by the studio where he improvised playing the kaval (a traditional Bulgarian flute) on two of my beats and this is how the collaborative EP was born. While listening to it, I imagine a gathering of people dancing around a fire somewhere in the wilderness, surrounded by the mountains and trees.

I’m Polina, an artist currently based in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a deep passion for photography and painting that started in my childhood. I have always been fascinated by the power of visual art to tell stories. Growing up, I played with my grandfather’s old paints and brushes, which sparked my interest in painting and expressing myself with visual arts. Over the years, this interest grew into a profound love for capturing faces and moments that speak to the human experience.
When I heard the tracks, I imagined the spirits of the earth. Мy feeling took me to the mountains. I wanted to communicate a sense of groundedness, playfulness and mysticism. 

What do you strive to express with your creations?

Polina: In general, I strive to express the beauty and complexity of human emotions and experiences. Through my work, I want to evoke emotions and create a connection between the viewer and the subject. My goal is to create imagery that not only pleases the eye but also resonates on a deeper, more meaningful level.

SMYAH: I never give a lot of though on what’s about to be created but in general it has to be deep and meaningful. A lot of times, I like to combine organic sounds with synths and bring an ethnic vibe without a specific ethnicity in mind though. This year, I started composing music for dance performances and working with the Derida company, which expanded my horizons and helped me develop a certain type of sound I have wanted to take on for quite a while now and having such projects to facilitate this growth stylistically is truly a blessing. It’s been a very inspirational path that influenced my personal production but this has yet to show in my next projects.