Sound in Picture, born in 2019, manages to find the perfect balance between music and photography. Both a music label and a visual arts magazine, the Sofia-based platform brings together artists. Together, they collaborate on releases where both the sound and the visual are celebrated.
In a world where everything seems to speed up constantly, Sound in Picture manages to slow down time. When browsing through their releases, you’ll find sounds ranging from classical music to soundscapes, and 140. The one thing they have in common is storytelling. Every release tells a story, where the music and photography go hand in hand.
We chatted with Yavor, the founder of Sound in Picture, about how the label was born and what he’s been up to since 2019.
It’s quite an interesting concept you’ve got going with Sound in Picture! How did you come up with the concept?
I used to be a photographer for Google, where I was shooting art galleries and museums around Europe. After this job I was resting on my couch, listening to music, and that’s when I came up with the idea of creating this label. I’ve always wanted to have a label, it’s been a dream of mine ever since I started making music. I also like to look at online photography magazines, and when I look at these magazines I listen to music. I thought to myself, why not have music that’s specially made along with the pictures? That’s how all of this came together. The idea is, you browse the photo series like a photo magazine and then you listen to the music at the same time.
You said that you were a photographer for Google and also made music. Which one came first, and when did you decide to combine the two?
I started making music when I was around 15. Back then, it was just for fun. I was mostly listening to metal back then, but after a while I discovered dubstep. Five years ago, being a musician became my profession. I now also teach music production at Sound Ninja Academy, the local private academy here (in Sofia) and I compose for dance performances and films. Right now, I’m working on a music score for a picture, and that’s what really ties it together. My background lies in film production, which is what I studied in The Netherlands. I worked in the biggest film studio in the Balkans, Nu Boyana Film Studios, and saw movie stars like Jason Statham, and traveled around the world with DanceTrippin (now Dance TV) while photographing DJs like Carl Cox. So, even in my full-time job, music has always been a part of it.
After the pandemic, they offered me a job to teach at the music production academy here, and I’m still teaching sound engineering. This is when I could afford to start making music full-time. Then the other projects followed; making the music for a film, for dance performances at Derida Dance Company… I’m really glad it has worked out like this.
Your full-time job as a photographer seems very fast-paced, traveling all around the world, whereas Sound in Picture seems to do the exact opposite; it slows down time almost.
It’s what I enjoy, and the way I enjoy living as well. Life as a photographer and a musician can be fast-paced and hectic, and last year definitely was for me. I was with the Derida Dance Company as a musician and we were traveling across Europe, went to Sardinia and Serbia and I was really tired after all this traveling. But at the same time, I enjoy spending time at home with my cat. What I love most is making music at my studio, but traveling is fun for sure. You get to meet interesting people and see interesting places.
What I’m releasing on Sound in Picture is just what I like listening to and looking at myself. I like to experience music and art in this slow type of way. I like to listen to a whole album from start to finish. I never follow playlists, I sometimes listen to the radio, to mixes from artists, but if I like somebody, I just listen to the whole album. I like to follow labels. This is the way I experience art in general. I really wanted to place bigger value on the releases, making them a bit more special so people really take their time. I know that this is a very niche audience but that’s still something I wouldn’t compromise. I’m just doing it the way I think it’s supposed to be done and the way I would like other labels to treat me.
With Sound in Picture, every release tells its own story. Why do you think it’s important to tell that story?
When I was reading the other magazines that inspired me to launch Sound in Picture, they always had interviews with the photographers. This way, they are given a voice. The lewcid ‘Do or Die’ EP features pictures from Kieran McPeake, and he wanted to depict the decreasing quality of fishing around the ports in the UK. This adds extra depth and I think it’s also an added value for the artists themselves.
What kind of stories do you like to bring?
It depends on what the people want to say. Sometimes they reply with just two sentences, and that’s okay. Sometimes they write whole paragraphs. The only thing is, I didn’t want it to be just photos and music. There had to be some kind of explanation. Who is this person? How do you find them? Stuff like that. So we had to have text included, but I like to give them freedom, and I don’t give them strong requirements.
The stories always come together once the artists start creating. I’m not looking for particular types of stories, it’s all about the texture of the sound. It has to have a specific sound that I can’t even explain, but it’s usually melancholic, cinematic, or electronic. One of the goals would be releasing vinyl and this year a friend of mine is opening a vinyl pressing plant in Bulgaria for the first time since 1994.
Sound in Picture really lends itself to vinyl, especially because you were talking about how you like to listen to an album front-to-back.
Absolutely, and with vinyl you can also send out physical prints for people who want to collect them. We have a photo book as well, but it’s not the same. What’s been stopping me is just the cost of vinyl, which is crazy. If it’s local here, it may be more affordable.
How do you find the artists that you’re working with?
The musicians are people that I already follow and I like listening to. We also receive a lot of submissions and pictures on Grover, which is a French platform on which you can receive tracks and give feedback to them. The photographers I usually find through Instagram, the algorithm has gotten to know me quite well at this point. I pair the musician and the photographer judging by the atmosphere that the music brings. Usually, the music comes first, and the photographer gets the inspiration. It’s funny, because when I invite photographers to work on a project, they say, “Oh, I would love to do it because when I’m shooting I’m always listening to music, and now I get to listen to music specifically for this,” so they’re already doing it in a way.
Your first release with Sound in Picture came out in 2019. What has changed between then and now?
Definitely the amount of good quality music. Bandcamp has been the fastest-growing platform for us. It’s crazy to see that we get new followers and audiences every day. We also sometimes do events here in Sofia, Bulgaria. They are mostly exhibitions and art bazaars where I invite some of the photographers to sell their prints. In terms of music events, we did one label night and we invited the Austrian dubstep producer Pharma, but I find organizing events quite stressful. I want to find somebody to partner with, but then again, it’s not our primary aim right now. Once Sound in Picture grows in popularity, there might be demand for label nights like this and I would love to organize events abroad, but for now, we’re just keeping this steady pace.
From 2019 to now, the club culture has changed a lot. There’s a big part of people that don’t go clubbing anymore, and I feel like that’s your audience. How do you feel about that?
I guess, the number of people who go clubbing has declined worldwide, I’m not really sure. Most of the tracks we release are not really club-oriented. In Bulgaria, we still have a vibrant club culture. After Covid, people were hungry for more events and especially when it comes to drum & bass, we’re spoiled here. We’ve got a promoter here, HMSU, who has been organizing D&B events for 26 years. We’ve seen all the biggest names in the drum & bass scene. I played at the party with Black Sun Empire and Audio last month and there were 2,000 people. It was sold out. Next week there is Spor and DJ Hazard and we’ve seen Noisia here before.
I think our concept can work really well for people in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, and France. I guess our genres are more popular there and there are a lot of producers there. Also the States of course, because when I’m looking at our statistics and who visits the site, the first place is always the USA, so that country has the biggest market for Sound in Picture for sure. My inspirations in general come from dubstep, grime and drum & bass, and sound system culture. This is why I’m kind of aimed towards these types of communities.
We already have some really nice releases lined up, and I really want to mention the compilation albums that we’re doing. The next one in the VA series ‘Contours’ will be coming out soon. It’s focused on 140 and more abstract stuff. The visuals are done by a photographer, Micronavt Studio, who is also a biologist, and she shoots them under a microscope, and it’s crazy, it doesn’t have any effects or animation. You just see a whole universe inside them. This is something I’m really looking forward to.
What I want to finish with, is that I didn’t expect Sound in Picture to grow or even be a registered company but it is now and it feels good. The best is yet to come.
Interview conducted in January 2025 by Annelies Rom.
Thanks to Yavor for the interesting chat, blending photography and music, uniquely.
Follow his project Sound in Picture on social to stay up to date with his latest work.
You can also read our previous feature with a label, Overview Music, here.
