What happens when you fuse a 25-year-old sci-fi cinematic classic with a live, original musical score? If you ask the mysterious collective known as glitch 37, you get a sold-out debut that blurred the lines between performer, audience, and screen.
In a world where music often feels increasingly digital and ephemeral, this Bulgarian group, whose identities remain intentionally shielded, is treating the stage as a laboratory for the senses. For glitch 37, the project is less about typical concert-going and more about finding new ways to “infiltrate the simulation” of modern art.
The Art of the glitch 37
The group’s debut was, by any measure, a unique success. By collaborating with the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, they secured a special projection of The Matrix, celebrating its 25th anniversary, and transformed a historic cinema into a theatrical performance space.
To learn more about the ideas behind the glitch 37, I sat down one afternoon with one of glitch’s members. While he performs as part of the collective, he also helps shape its broader artistic vision. Like the rest of the group, he prefers to keep his identity out of the spotlight, allowing the focus to remain on the music and the experience itself.
“It is the first type of debut where a band collaborated with a cinema,” glitch explains. The performance wasn’t just about playing tracks; it was about total integration, mixing the movie’s score with their own original compositions to create a theatrical narrative. “I figured out the ideas I want to share are hard to communicate with words alone,” they say. “Music, cinema, dance… we need to use as many art tools as possible to express what we feel.”
Yet bringing such an ambitious vision to life required more than creativity. It also demanded collaboration with institutions that many independent artists often struggle to access.
Bridging the Gap
An ongoing tension for emerging artists across the Balkans is the struggle for institutional support. However, glitch 37’s experience suggests that the relationship between artists and institutions does not have to be adversarial.
Instead of viewing government or municipal structures solely as barriers, glitch 37 approached the National Palace of Culture with a concrete, collaborative proposal. They saw the institution not as an obstacle, but as a potential partner in creating a shared cultural experience. By positioning their performance as a symbiotic event, one that added value to an existing cultural milestone, they successfully turned a public structure into an ally. It is a lesson they hope to pass on to other independent musicians: sometimes, the infrastructure exists, but it requires a strategic and professional vision to unlock it.
That same forward-thinking mindset extends beyond the practicalities of organizing events. It also shapes how glitch 37 views one of the biggest questions currently facing artists worldwide: the rise of artificial intelligence.
Humanity in the Age of Algorithms
Perhaps the most pressing question for any modern musician is the role of AI. As the industry grapples with generative tools capable of crafting a song in seconds, glitch 37 remains firmly human-centric.
“AI is getting super good at making music without any soul and any heart,” they observe.
While they acknowledge that technology can be useful for drafting ideas or communicating a specific riff to a bandmate, they believe it has little place in the final creative product. For glitch, the value of art lies in the “blood on the fingers” – the hard work, lived experience, and vulnerability of a human process that an algorithm cannot replicate. Their emphasis on authenticity also influences how they think about the future of the music scene itself. For them, sustaining a vibrant cultural landscape is not just about individual creativity but about the relationships artists build with one another.
A Call for Community
Ultimately, this project is a test simulation. With eyes on the international stage, glitch is using the Bulgarian scene as their ground zero. But their mission extends beyond their own growth. They advocate for a fundamental shift in mindset, moving away from the spirit of competition that often stifles smaller music scenes.
“We can all try to be the best version of ourselves,” they reflect, “but not hit each other, not try to get each other down.”
In an era of digital noise, glitch is betting that the most effective way to connect is still through the old-fashioned, messy, and wonderful act of showing up, for the cinema, for the stage, and for each other.
Featured image: glitch 37 performing at the Lumiere Cinema (Credits: Petar Atanasov)
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