Hamburg-based art-house pop duo IVY FLINDT return with SPHINX, a cinematic four-track EP exploring belonging, vulnerability, and the courage to stand your ground in an increasingly uncertain world. Produced by Grammy Award-winning Danton Supple, whose credits include Coldplay and Nick Cave, the project finds vocalist Cate Martin and multi-instrumentalist Micha Holland embracing the strength of their creative partnership. MUNDANE speaks with the duo about the meaning of home, the insecurities behind artistic expression, and why some of the most powerful music emerges when you stop trying to control it.
There is a particular kind of beauty that emerges when music refuses to explain everything.
Some songs tell stories with clearly defined beginnings and endings. Others exist in a more ambiguous emotional space, where melodies, memories, and feelings become intertwined without necessarily arriving at a resolution.
For Hamburg-based art-house pop duo IVY FLINDT, that ambiguity is not something to overcome.
It’s part of what makes music meaningful.
Comprised of vocalist and songwriter Cate Martin and multi-instrumentalist Micha Holland, the duo has developed a distinctive musical identity built around intimate storytelling, atmospheric arrangements, and a cinematic sensibility that feels simultaneously expansive and deeply personal.
Their latest EP, SPHINX, released November 13, represents another evolution of that creative vision.
Produced by Grammy Award-winning Danton Supple, whose credits include Coldplay, Nick Cave, and Amy Macdonald, the four-track collection brings together the singles “Welcome to L.A.,” “I Like The Weather,” “What I Call Home,” and the newly released “You Could Have Called Me.”
Across the project, IVY FLINDT explore the contradictions of human experience: the desire for stability in a world that constantly changes, the vulnerability that accompanies emotional attachment, and the complicated relationship between beauty and uncertainty.
But perhaps the most compelling aspect of SPHINX is its underlying philosophy.
Rather than attempting to eliminate life’s contradictions, the duo seems increasingly interested in learning how to exist alongside them.
“We recorded SPHINX in our own studio just outside Hamburg, taking our time and following our vision,” they explain.
“SPHINX is our way of holding our ground in a world that keeps getting louder, aiming for beauty and grace nevertheless.”
It’s a statement that captures the emotional foundation of the record.
In an era defined by acceleration, distraction, and the constant demand for attention, IVY FLINDT are choosing something different.
Patience.
Intimacy.
And the quiet determination to remain themselves.
What Does It Mean to Call Somewhere Home?
One of the central questions running through SPHINX is the meaning of belonging.
On “What I Call Home,” IVY FLINDT approach the idea of home not simply as a physical location, but as an emotional condition shaped by the realities of human experience.
For Cate Martin, the song is rooted in the recognition that changing one’s surroundings doesn’t necessarily eliminate life’s difficulties.
No matter where we go, challenges follow.
Relationships become complicated. Success introduces new anxieties. Even the things we cherish most can become sources of vulnerability because they create something we are afraid to lose.
“With light comes the darkness,” Cate explains. “Sunlight casts shadows.”
It’s a deceptively simple observation, but one that reveals the philosophical perspective behind the song.
We often imagine happiness and suffering as opposing states.
If we can find the right place, the right relationship, or the right circumstances, perhaps we can finally escape uncertainty.
But Cate suggests that the two are inseparable.
The possibility of loss exists precisely because we have something meaningful to lose.
Success creates the fear of failure.
Love creates the possibility of heartbreak.
And the search for stability can become its own source of anxiety.
For IVY FLINDT, the challenge is not necessarily to resolve those contradictions.
It’s to make peace with them.
That perspective gives “What I Call Home” a broader emotional resonance.
Home becomes less about finding a place where nothing can go wrong and more about developing the ability to remain grounded when things inevitably do.
It’s a theme that connects directly to the title of the EP.
‘SPHINX’: The Strength of Standing Still
The word Sphinx evokes an extraordinary collection of cultural and mythological associations.
Mystery.
Ancient knowledge.
Unanswered questions.
A figure that remains immovable while the world changes around it.
For Micha Holland, however, the title carries a particularly personal meaning.
Resilience.
And the ability to stand firmly in one’s place.
“For us, the title speaks of resilience—and of standing firmly in one’s place,” he explains.
“If we’ve managed even a little bit to say, ‘Here I stand, here I stood, and here I will stand,’ then that would mean a great deal to me.”
It’s an idea that gives the record a sense of quiet determination.
Rather than defining resilience through dramatic confrontation or external displays of strength, IVY FLINDT approach it as a form of consistency.
The willingness to remain connected to one’s values, creative identity, and emotional truth even when circumstances become difficult.
That philosophy also reflects the duo’s approach to making music.
SPHINX was recorded in their own studio outside Hamburg, allowing them to develop the project at their own pace.
The environment gave Cate and Micha the freedom to explore arrangements, refine performances, and preserve the intimacy that defines their work.
In an industry where artists are often encouraged to release material quickly and maintain constant visibility, the decision to take time becomes meaningful in itself.
For IVY FLINDT, the process of creating SPHINX appears inseparable from the values the record expresses.
Holding their ground isn’t simply a lyrical theme.
It’s a creative practice.
When Music Happens Before You Understand It
IVY FLINDT’s music is frequently described as cinematic.
Their compositions often unfold like miniature films, combining emotionally direct lyrics with expansive arrangements that suggest landscapes, memories, and experiences beyond the immediate narrative.
Yet Cate doesn’t approach songwriting with the intention of creating that effect.
When asked how she transforms personal experiences into music that feels almost visual, her answer is remarkably straightforward.
“This is not intentional,” she says. “My music happens to me.”
The statement offers an important insight into her creative process.
Rather than constructing songs around predetermined concepts, Cate allows ideas to emerge intuitively.
The emotional atmosphere of a composition isn’t necessarily something she consciously designs.
It’s something she discovers.
Micha’s role is different but complementary.
As a multi-instrumentalist and arranger, he approaches Cate’s songwriting with the intention of creating an environment in which her stories can fully resonate.
“My goal is to put Cate’s story at the center and to build a sonic world around it to support it,” he explains.
That relationship between spontaneous songwriting and deliberate arrangement is central to IVY FLINDT’s sound.
Cate provides the emotional foundation.
Micha develops the musical architecture that allows it to expand.
The result is a balance between intimacy and scale.
A song can begin with an intensely personal feeling and gradually evolve into something atmospheric and immersive without losing its emotional specificity.
It’s a process that also requires a considerable degree of trust.
And on SPHINX, that trust appears to have reached a particularly intuitive level.
A Creative Partnership Beyond Words
Long-term artistic partnerships often develop their own language.
Over time, collaborators begin to recognize one another’s instincts, anticipate creative decisions, and understand emotional intentions without requiring extensive explanation.
For Cate and Micha, that process has become an essential part of IVY FLINDT.
While recording SPHINX, Micha recalls that the duo didn’t experience a single moment of disagreement.
The absence of conflict wasn’t necessarily the result of avoiding difficult decisions.
Instead, he describes a partnership in which both artists have developed an almost instinctive understanding of their shared direction.
“It seems like we are at a point in our creative partnership where very few words are needed for us to understand where we want to go,” he says.
That level of familiarity can be especially valuable when creating music rooted in emotional nuance.
Subtle arrangements require sensitivity.
The addition of an instrument, the space between vocal phrases, or the decision to leave a passage relatively unadorned can significantly change how a listener experiences a song.
For IVY FLINDT, those decisions emerge from a relationship built around a shared artistic sensibility.
Cate doesn’t need to explain every emotional implication of her lyrics.
Micha doesn’t need to justify every musical instinct.
The two have developed a creative process in which their individual contributions reinforce one another.
And that sense of trust becomes audible in the cohesion of SPHINX.
Danton Supple and the Power of Being Heard
Working with an outside producer can introduce a new perspective into an established creative partnership.
For IVY FLINDT, collaborating with Danton Supple on SPHINX provided an opportunity to reconsider something particularly personal: Cate’s relationship with her own voice.
Despite her experience as a singer and songwriter, Cate admits that she has often felt insecure about her vocal abilities.
Before the recording sessions began, she questioned whether what she had to offer would be enough.
“I am not Aretha Franklin and I know it,” she says.
Her anxiety was understandable.
Supple’s extensive production background includes collaborations with internationally recognized artists, and his involvement brought a new level of attention to the recording process.
But rather than encouraging Cate to change her vocal approach, he offered a perspective she had never encountered before.
He told her that her voice was the reason he had traveled to record the duo.
For Cate, the comment was both reassuring and intimidating.
It was the first time someone had explicitly expressed a desire to capture the distinctive sound of her voice.
The moment reveals something important about artistic confidence.
Musicians often measure themselves against established standards of technical excellence.
But individuality doesn’t necessarily emerge from meeting those standards.
Sometimes the qualities that make a voice compelling are precisely those that distinguish it from conventional expectations.
For Supple, Cate’s vocal identity was not an obstacle to overcome.
It was the emotional center of the project.
His approach to production reflected that understanding.
Rather than allowing elaborate arrangements to compete with the songwriting, he focused on building a musical environment that supported Cate’s stories.
“You can tell they really think about what they’re doing—the whole image and the story connected around Cate’s lyrics,” Supple explains.
“And it’s about creating a backdrop that supports that story.”
The result is a collection that emphasizes emotional clarity without sacrificing atmosphere or musical depth.
From ‘In Every Move’ to a More Defined Artistic Identity
Before SPHINX, IVY FLINDT had already established themselves as a distinctive presence within contemporary art-house pop.
Their debut album, In Every Move, was produced by Per Sunding, known for his work with The Cardigans, and mastered by Björn Engelmann.
The record introduced the duo’s blend of intimate songwriting, elegant melodies, and cinematic arrangements to a wider audience.
Rolling Stone described their sound as “pop songs cast in silver,” a phrase that captures the luminous, carefully textured quality of their music.
Since then, IVY FLINDT have brought their performances to audiences across Europe and North America, developing a reputation for emotionally rich live experiences.
With SPHINX, the duo continue refining that identity.
But the new EP doesn’t necessarily represent a dramatic reinvention.
Instead, it feels like the work of two musicians becoming increasingly comfortable with their creative instincts.
Cate’s songwriting remains intuitive.
Micha’s arrangements continue to prioritize the emotional meaning of the songs.
And the collaboration with Supple reinforces the importance of allowing each composition to breathe.
The result is music that feels carefully considered without becoming overly calculated.
That distinction is particularly important to Cate.
When asked whether she deliberately uses beautiful melodies to make difficult emotional truths easier to confront, she rejects the idea of approaching songwriting through a conceptual framework.
“These are the melodies I come up with,” she explains. “I don’t approach songwriting conceptually.”
For her, beauty isn’t necessarily a strategy.
It’s simply part of the way music arrives.
Four Songs About the Courage to Remain Vulnerable
Across its four tracks, SPHINX explores different dimensions of emotional uncertainty.
“Welcome to L.A.,” “I Like The Weather,” “What I Call Home,” and “You Could Have Called Me” form a cohesive collection centered on vulnerability, resilience, and the search for beauty amid instability.
The songs are united less by a conventional narrative than by a shared emotional perspective.
They acknowledge that human relationships are rarely simple.
That belonging can be difficult to define.
And that even the most beautiful experiences contain the possibility of loss.
But the EP doesn’t appear interested in turning those observations into pessimism.
Instead, IVY FLINDT approach uncertainty as something that can coexist with grace.
Their music suggests that resilience doesn’t require emotional detachment.
It may instead involve remaining open to experience despite knowing that vulnerability carries risks.
That philosophy becomes particularly meaningful when considered alongside the duo’s creative process.
Cate allows her music to emerge without attempting to control every aspect of its meaning.
Micha builds arrangements that support rather than dominate those ideas.
And together, they create a musical world in which ambiguity is not something to be resolved.
It’s something to be inhabited.
We spoke with Cate Martin and Micha Holland about the emotional ideas behind SPHINX, the meaning of resilience, their increasingly intuitive creative partnership, and the experience of working with Danton Supple.
In Conversation With IVY FLINDT
Your latest single, “What I Call Home,” arrives ahead of your new EP, SPHINX. What inspired you to explore the idea of home, and has your understanding of belonging changed as your music has taken you into different cities, cultures, and personal experiences?
Cate: To me, it is about understanding that there will be trouble anywhere, anyway, no matter what you do or where you go.
It’s not always roses, poetry and prose, ask old Tom about it!
With light comes the darkness. Sunlight casts shadows.
Where there is success, there is the fear of losing.
What you’ve got is what is at stake.
The task I see here is: you’ve got to make peace with it somehow.
The title SPHINX evokes mystery, mythology, and the idea of confronting questions that don’t necessarily have straightforward answers. What drew you to this title, and does the EP explore particular mysteries or contradictions about human relationships, identity, or the search for meaning?
Micha: For us, the title speaks of resilience—and of standing firmly in one’s place.
And if we’ve managed even a little bit to say, “Here I stand, here I stood, and here I will stand,” then that would mean a great deal to me.
Your music is often described as cinematic, combining intimate storytelling with expansive, atmospheric arrangements. How do you approach translating a deeply personal experience into something that feels almost like a film, and does the visual or emotional atmosphere of a song sometimes emerge before its narrative becomes clear?
Cate: This is not intentional. My music happens to me.
Micha: As an arranger, my goal is to put Cate’s story at the center and to build a sonic world around it to support it.
You’ve worked with acclaimed producers including Per Sunding on In Every Move and now Danton Supple on SPHINX. How did working with Danton challenge or expand your creative process, and what did he recognize in your songwriting that perhaps you hadn’t fully appreciated yourselves?
Cate: I’ve always felt insecure about my voice.
I am not Aretha Franklin and I know it.
Before recording started, I got a little anxious wondering if what I had to offer would be enough.
Danton told me my voice was the reason he flew in to record us in the first place.
That made me even more nervous.
But it was something I had never heard before.
Someone really wanting to capture the sound of my voice.
No one had ever told me that before.
As a duo, your creative partnership relies on the relationship between Cate’s lyrical storytelling and Micha’s multi-instrumental compositions. How has that dynamic evolved over time, and have you developed an almost instinctive understanding of each other’s creative intentions, or do your most interesting ideas sometimes emerge from disagreement?
Micha: While working on the recordings for SPHINX, we had not a single moment of disagreement.
It seems like we are at a point in our creative partnership where very few words are needed for us to understand where we want to go.
Your songwriting frequently explores emotionally complicated experiences through melodies that feel elegant, immersive, and accessible. Do you think beauty in music can make difficult emotional truths easier to confront, or are you more interested in creating tension between what a listener hears and what the lyrics are actually revealing?
Cate: These are the melodies I come up with.
I don’t approach songwriting conceptually.
Finding Grace in a World That Keeps Getting Louder
Perhaps the most compelling quality of SPHINX is its refusal to equate emotional strength with certainty.
Throughout the EP, IVY FLINDT explore experiences that resist easy explanations.
The meaning of home.
The vulnerability that accompanies success.
The relationship between artistic confidence and insecurity.
And the complicated process of learning to accept the contradictions that shape our lives.
But rather than presenting those questions as problems that need to be solved, Cate and Micha approach them as essential aspects of being human.
For Cate, songwriting isn’t an intellectual exercise designed to communicate predetermined conclusions.
It’s an intuitive process through which emotions find their own musical form.
For Micha, the role of arrangement is to create the space those emotions need to resonate.
And for both artists, the strength of their partnership lies in the trust that allows those individual instincts to coexist.
That creative philosophy gives SPHINX a distinctive sense of intimacy.
Even at its most expansive, the music remains connected to the vulnerability of the person at its center.
Cate’s experience with Danton Supple is particularly revealing.
For years, she had questioned whether her voice was enough.
Yet the producer’s interest was rooted precisely in the qualities that made her sound individual.
It’s a reminder that artistic identity isn’t necessarily something we achieve by overcoming every perceived imperfection.
Sometimes it emerges when we begin to recognize the value of what makes us different.
The same idea extends to the broader themes of the EP.
Resilience doesn’t require a life without uncertainty.
Belonging doesn’t mean finding a place where nothing can go wrong.
And beauty doesn’t need to eliminate darkness in order to exist.
As Cate observes, sunlight inevitably casts shadows.
Perhaps the task is not to escape them, but to learn how to live with both.
With SPHINX, IVY FLINDT offer a musical expression of that philosophy.
Four songs that embrace vulnerability without surrendering to it.
Arrangements that create atmosphere without obscuring emotional truth.
And a creative partnership that has reached a point where understanding often requires very few words.
In a cultural landscape increasingly defined by noise, speed, and the pressure to constantly reinvent ourselves, there’s something quietly powerful about that approach.
IVY FLINDT aren’t attempting to become louder than the world around them.
They’re choosing to remain grounded within it.
And perhaps that is the real meaning of SPHINX.
Not the ability to answer every question.
But the courage to stand still, remain open, and continue creating beauty even when the answers remain uncertain.
IVY FLINDT’s new EP SPHINX is out November 13, 2026, featuring “You Could Have Called Me,” “Welcome to L.A.,” “I Like The Weather,” and “What I Call Home.” The project was produced by Grammy Award-winning Danton Supple.
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Photography: IVY FLINDT
