Smerz, New York, luxy

Smerz’ big city comes to life on stage with one finger piano riffs, strings presets, drums and voices, telling stories lived and imagined.

Smerz is the Norwegian duo of Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg, based in Oslo and Copenhagen. The duo is set to release their sophomore album, Big city life, on May 23 through Danish label Escho.

Using collages to capture moments of everyday life and dreams, Smerz tell stories of love, apathy, solitude and friendship. The pair operates at the intersection of genres, drawing inspiration from compositional techniques in classical music, the experimentation of computer music and the immediacy of pop music, all in the palettes of girly existentialism. The duo’s discography includes the critically acclaimed debut album Believer on XL Recordings, EPs Have fun and Okey, released through XL and Escho, as well as pop fantasy project ALLINA and choir piece Tidligere den dagen with vocal ensemble GAEA on their own label Shopping.

Notable past performances include Tate Modern, MOCA Geffen, Berghain, Volksbühne, MIRA Festival with Weirdcore, KODE with the Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance, and Club To Club. From their choir performance at the MUNCH Museum to fashion runway soundtracks, throughout their work, Smerz have been known for their ability to navigate and create new sonic worlds.

NEW YORK is the NYC-based duo of Gretchen Lawrence and Coumba Samba. The pair make hypnotic, deconstructed “girl pop” that reflects the fractured, chronically-online world we live in. Their name, a challenge to search in the age of algorithms even on the best of days, mirrors the elusive, hard-to-categorize quality of their work. Their sophomore album, rapstar* (Relaxin Records, 2024), established them as masters of ironic, thought-provoking electronica. The duo will follow it up with a new EP, Push, self-releasing on September 12, 2025, alongside a North American support run with Smerz. Known for intimate live shows that blur the line between stage and audience—often performing in the middle of the room or seated on the floor—NEW YORK continues to create music that feels both purposefully performative and unexpectedly personal.

Local support from luxy.

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