Smerz

Name: Smerz
Start: 2025-10-20T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Empty Bottle

Schedule

Mon, 20 Oct, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Empty Bottle | Chicago, IL

Doors: 8PM / Show: 9PM / 21+
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.