On their debut album “Believer,” Norweigan duo Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt, better known by their group name Smerz, transport the listener to a glimmering and daring audioscape. The title track “Girarriff” opens with fairy-like twinkling before incorporating heavier foreboding notes, then finally shifting into the pair’s R&B styled vocals on “Max.” Smerz’s trance-inducing mixture of synth, R&B, hip-hop, and classical music is reminiscent of U.S. Girl’s genre-blurring and merging 2018 album “In a Poem Unlimited.” The sonic scenes throughout “Believer,” are diverse and a treat to explore. 

By Emma Chekroun