NOCKTERN

About

" The darker sound of the Balkans "

The world’s connected like never before, but until recently we heard very little about contemporary Bulgarian indie and alternative music. For many people, only some excellent work by long-term expat Gueorgui Linev with his Los Angeles based project Kan Wakan may have any impact. Yes, Bulgaria is the homeland of many famous traditional folk music artists, but who will represent the country on the international level when it comes to alternative styles?

A good introduction to the new sound of Sofia was offered last year by prog rock band heptagram at Europavox festival in Zagreb. Among Bulgarian fans, heptagram drummer Boris Malevanov is also known as a full time member of NOCKTERN, who he has played with since 2020.

For years NOCKTERN were a solo project by keyboardist, composer and producer Stoimen Stoyanov, who released the first EP ‘No Sugar Added’ in 2016, receiving heavy support on Bulgarian national radio. Early NOCKTERN music is a mainly instrumental mixture between trip hop, nu jazz, ambient and neoclassical, with a cinematic tone.

After Boris Malevanov took his place behind the drums, NOCKTERN recorded a couple of singles and quickly expanded to a trio, joined by guitarist Dido Peshev. That was a kind of reunion for Stoyanov and Peshev, who had played together before in hardcore band Them Frequencies. The new NOCKTERN line-up was ready for the 8-track album ‘Scavengers’ released in 2021 under Glitch Lab label. With this record Bulgarian trio found their own distinctive style, somewhere around the crossover of dark pop, industrial, electro rock and neoclassical. 

The new sound of NOCKTERN was discovered on Bandcamp in the summer of 2020 through the guitar driven instrumental single ‘NoStalgia’. If you’re curious about the other ‘Scavengers’ album highlights, listen to the powerful vocal tunes ‘The Great Silence’ and ‘Hollow’ (featuring SAIGO). Both have great potential to propel the band across borders sometime soon.