Smerz / Nourished by Time

An evening at the cutting edge of modern pop, with the electronic nursery rhymes of Norwegian duo Smerz and the homemade groove of American Nourished by Time.

1/ Nourished by Time From his time at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, American musician Marcus Brown mainly held a grudge against the boxes where students were too often confined.

Dreamed in the interstices of days devoted to survival jobs in Los Angeles, the Nourished by Time project truly takes shape in Baltimore, his hometown where he finds his family home basement.

There, Marcus Brown arranges genres and references in abundance, develops a dreamlike sound with whatever means available.

Published in 2023, his first album – Erotic Probiotic 2, widely praised by critics – puts r'n'b, pop, groove, hip-hop and electronic music through the mill of accomplished songwriting art.

In 2025, The Passionates Ones confirms a particular aptitude for associating melodies and sparkling arrangements with resolutely DIY production.

2/ Smerz Friends since their high school years in Oslo, Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeld form Smerz in 2016 and are quickly spotted by tastemakers at English label XL Recordings.

Drum machines, synths and ethereal voices are the raw material of minimalist, precise and catchy tracks.

The duo quickly proves themselves with their debut album Believer (2021) before taking a different direction with two unconventional projects in 2024: the spectacular EP Allina where Smerz invents a pop star and her sparkling songs; the choral piece Tidligere den dagen written for the 8 voices of the GAEA ensemble.

A good indication of elastic talent, which the two musicians deploy on their second true album: released in 2025, Big city life captures stories lived or imagined, put to sound with flexibility and acuity.