Bozhidar “Trombobby” Vasilev and Simeon “C-MO” Zhelyazkov know a thing or two about collaborations. A steady presence in Bulgaria’s ever-expanding independent music scene over the past few years, the pair have been involved in a diverse array of projects, including Southwick, DAYO, Funky Miracle, and the Sofia Beats label.

Yet despite their shared passion for soul, funk and hip-hop, the producer/vocalist duo only worked together on a few occasions in the past, most notably on “Doner” (from DAYO’s self-titled LP) and “Jio”, which appeared on Trombobby’s solo LP “Run” in the beginning of 2018. The desire and appetite for more were always present, however, and a few years later the team is honored to unveil their first collaborative EP - “The Year Without a Summer”.

The end result of many late night recording sessions during the first few months of 2019, this is the first extended play for both artists, and a significant departure from their previous work in terms of its approach and uniformity. Centered around the young contemporary experience in an urban strata, the inquisitive album features musings on love, whispers, unpaid bills and the eternal question of direction, both personal and global.

Clocking in at exactly 24 minutes, the seven-track release drew inspiration from a multitude of sources, chief among them the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. The largest such event in the past 1,500 years, it spread enormous amounts of volcanic ash across the planet, significantly lowered global temperatures and ushered in a volcanic winter.

The sequence shifted global populations, helped create religious movements, and inspired numerous works of art, including Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Lord Byron’s “Fragment of a Novel”. Nature, until then viewed as a kind and benevolent ally, seemed to turn its back on humanity overnight, resulting in panic and religious fervor, but also artistic and scientific insight. This dualistic mirror-play is reflected in some of the other works that influenced the EP - Georgi Gospodinov’s celebrated novel “The Physics of Sorrow”, as well as Gabriella Wilson’s Grammy-winning compilation album released under the H.E.R. moniker.

As part of the recording process the pair shared writing responsibilities, with Trombobby handing the production side, and C-MO adding vocals. Additional support came from bandmates and frequent collaborators Evden Dimitrov (bass) and Peter Yotov (guitar), as well as Georgi Panchev, who designed the cover art, featuring analog photography taken on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The Year Without a Summer drops on May 8th via all major digital music platforms, and will have a special release party a week later at the Kino Cabana, near the National Palace of Culture in central Sofia. A 500-copy limited physical CD edition will be issued at the same time, and the duo are finalizing plans for an upcoming music video.

As far as plans for the future go, both artists admit that they will be returning to other projects - C-MO is wrapping up work on his solo debut and the upcoming Funky Miracle EP, while Trombobby is busy with the follow-up to Southwick’s 2012 “From Flesh and Funk”, the long-awaited sophomore album from DAYO, as well as production on the upcoming LP release by Desy.