The name of the Bulgarian duo Hug or Handshake is quite funny and unintentionally ironic nowadays. Both the hug and the handshake suddenly acquired a very different context during the pandemic.
And during that time, in 2020, they debuted two songs and two stylish videos to accompany them – Molten Dreams and Blaze of Sorry.
The guys behind the band are Anton Georgiev and Petar Trifonov, who were friends at the American University years before they found common ground as musicians and listeners. According to them, the current situation in which they release songs but cannot play them live or plan any concerts has not hindered their creative process too much.
"This gave us time to stay home and be bored, and very often good ideas are born when you stay home and are bored. So the pandemic may have helped us," said vocalist Anton Georgiev. In 2021, we will hear a couple new songs, which will then make it into their debut album, produced by Simeon Lozanov (Monyx). They are currently working on a series of interactive videos with Handplayed Productions, which they describe as a "mini-series."
"As with any other activity, you have to balance short-term and long-term goals. That's why we try to be clear about our next few steps, but also try to set bold goals," says guitarist Petar Trifonov, whom we also know from his work in Bears & Hunters and Raja & The Band. "Otherwise, you can get discouraged by all the small obstacles, which pop up on a daily basis and can deceive you that things are not going anywhere. The opposite is also easy – to tell yourself that you are a great job and to start putting in less effort."
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Photographer: Mikhail Mishev
Director: Nikola Atanasov
Hug or Handshake are online at:
facebook.com/hugorhandshake
instagram.com/hugorhandshake
Translated by Maria Vassileva