"It is my pleasure to introduce to you the 'Big city life' experience": Smerz live at The White Hotel

On a freezing November evening, Salford seemed to be shrouded in the hazy warmth of romance, thanks to Smerz’s appearance at the infamous White Hotel. Jazzy drums and soft bass precede the arrival of Smerz — the Norwegian duo comprised of Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt.

Dissonant and Stereolab-esque ‘But I Do’ opens the set, with the duo performing to a captivated audience of teens and twenty-somethings of Manchester. Perfectly cultivated looks fill the room: a mix of leopard print fur, silk scarves, and thin eyebrows mark the effortless elegance of the crowd, much like Smerz themselves.

Credit: Ella Sofuoglu @ The Mancunion

The duo have become low-profile mascots for romantic, starry-eyed, slightly lost youth of the big city. "It is my pleasure to introduce to you the Big City Life experience", announces Stoltenberg; the irony of being in a venue so removed from the big city seemed only to add to the low-key charm of the evening. The possibility of the night and the big city, themes echoed throughout the duo's latest album, seemed to be conceived in the dingy walls of the White Hotel. Fittingly, title track ‘Big City Life’ followed, with monotone vocals overlying crisp drums and disjointed piano.

Experimentalism characterises much of the record, with the gig seeing Stoltenberg and Motzfeldt take turns singing at the front, whilst the other takes an instrument at the back. A violin, piano, and sample pad serve as the duo’s instrumental repertoire, accompanied only by a drummer and bassist. Fast-paced and satirical ‘Feisty’ sees the set take an upbeat turn, followed by the similarly biting ‘Close’. The harsher sounds of these tracks are elevated by the drummer’s kit, the replacement of the rack tom with a sample pad being attuned to Smerz’s experimental disposition.

Credit: Ella Sofuoglu @ The Mancunion

‘A Thousand Lies’ marked the set's return to dreamy, shoegaze sounds of the city, the music sparkling much like the glittery curtained backdrop. Motzfeldt’s vocals seem to overlay the track with seductive effortlessness; for the following track, ‘Easy’, red lights from the bottom of the stage soared through Stoltenberg and onto the ridges of the venues roof. "Have I said too much?" she murmurs, eyes closed in an overwhelming intoxication of lyrical emotion; the audience are now fully immersed in the record’s passionate sentiment, palpable through closed eyes and sways.

Credit: Ella Sofuoglu @ The Mancunion

The piano-centred, lyrical stream of consciousness ‘Street Style’ served as another emotional meditation, before the cutting bass of ‘Roll the Dice’ sears through the piano focused melody of ‘Street Style’, a lyrical stream of consciousness about wanting something emotionally "huge to hit". The musical tenderness seemed to culminate in the night's closing number, 'You Got Time and I Got Money'. The hopeless devotion in the track evokes the emotional backlog of Smerz’s discography, with dreamy synths, strings, and piano producing a dizzying emotional haze.

Mirrored even in the group’s name, the shorthand for heartache in German (herzschmerz), Smerz’s set seemed to intoxicate the venue with the starry-eyedness of youth and the thrill of being young and in love.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6C14WjZp4TYn9AXkhdx5Qd?si=BBjeUP1FSWmcpDHX5D-uQQ