Norwegian duo Catharina Stoltenberg + Henriette Motzfeldt — aka Smerz — return with a hypnotically whirring new single, "Oh my my," for the infamously independent XL Recordings. The track elicits those distinctive, blurred late-night club vibes that made their debut EP Okey one of the most magical and original releases of 2016.
The relatively unknown duo instantly had us with this elegant piece of masterful deconstructed pop. It's soft techno with tidy, fleeting, vocals. Smerz makes the kind of techno-indebted pop that sounds like it was incubated over years of late-night clubbing. It’s a project conceived in Oslo and created in Copenhagen, where the duo currently make music together. "Oh my my" is pared-back and detached, yet never straying too far from core catchy melodies, as they blend insistent drums, woozy synths, and R&B-tinged vocals.
Watch the Michella Bredahl-directed video for “Oh my my” below, and catch Smerz live later this month when they play their first-ever U.S. shows in Brooklyn, SF, and LA.