Don’t Miss Smerz 5/22 at The Cedar Cultural Center

Smerz and Kaitlin Simotics will be stopping by The Cedar Cultural Center on Friday, May 22nd for a can’t miss show.

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.

Kaitlin Simotics is an experimental electronic musician based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Their release Kaitlin Music (via Relaxin Records) examines themes of digital entropy, blending humor and abstraction into a distinctly internet-native sound that resists easy categorization. Incorporating elements such as chaotic laugh tracks and text-to-speech poetry, their work reflects the overstimulation and absurdity of contemporary online life. As Nina Protocol notes, “the drum machines sound like they were dipped in the fryer at Raising Cane’s.” 

Tickets are still available HERE!