Calling a pop record Sphinx invites trouble before anyone hears a note. The word arrives carrying stone, riddles, silence and several thousand years of cultural baggage. Hamburg art-pop duo Ivy Flindt chose it for their forthcoming EP, due November 13, then introduced the project through Welcome to L.A., I Like the Weather and What I Call Home. Los Angeles, weather, home: three familiar subjects placed beside a title built for secrets.

The partnership between Cate Martin and Micha Holland has always depended on a clear division of craft and a shared final instinct. Martin writes the lyrics; Holland can supply an entire band by himself, playing every instrument on Welcome to L.A.. For Sphinx, they brought Grammy-winning producer Danton Supple into that private working language. Ahead of the EP’s release, we spoke with Ivy Flindt about the title they both remember choosing, the strange delay between writing a song and meeting it again at release, and the next ideas already competing for their attention.

Hi, it’s great to speak with you both. Go back to the first serious conversation  about Sphinx, before the title, the producer and the release schedule entered the  picture. What were you hearing in your early ideas that suggested Ivy Flindt was  ready for a different kind of record? 

Cate: Thank you for having us! Let’s get right to it. Life happens and when it does, it  brings its songs to us. It’s really as simple as that. Once you know, you know.  

I keep returning to the title Sphinx because it is such an unusual word to place  above a pop record. Where did it first appear, who recognised its potential, and how  long did it take for both of you to agree that it belonged to these particular songs? 

Cate: I’d say it was my idea, but Micha says it was his, but neither of us can remember  exactly. So there you go! 🙂 LOL Before we recorded the songs we referred to the EP as  Sing it to the moon instead and somehow when the music was recorded we came up with  Sphinx. To me, Sphinx is really about standing up for yourself. Your own ideas, your own  timings. People may not always get you, but hey, that’s cool. Don’t be bothered too much  about what you think you should be doing. It comes down to what you wanna do. Always  remember: Someone else’s pace is someone else’s pace. And in case of Sphinx: She has  seen it all. And I like that idea.  

Micha: It mirrors my idea of life in general. It’s not that I am not moved by what happens.  But I like to believe that I can face whatever comes my way.  

Listeners met Welcome to L.A. first, followed by I Like the Weather, with What I  Call Home arriving next. How carefully did you plan that order? Which side of the EP  did you want each single to introduce, and which track would have created a  completely different impression of Sphinx if you had released it first? 

Micha: It’s a carefully curated choice. We wanted to showcase each song in the best  possible way, moving from an outward focus to the inner world. 

A song can spend months passing through writing, arranging, recording and  mixing, while the person who began it continues changing. Which line in What I Call  Home carries a different meaning for you today, and has that distance made you  more sympathetic or more critical toward the version of yourself who originally  wrote it? 

Cate: Yes, it takes time to put out music and when the music is finally out there, you are  already thinking of new music and then the task is to reconnect with who you were back  then. Honestly, I don’t think any particular line has changed its meaning for me. I may have  changed since then, but I still understand why I wrote those words.  

Welcome to L.A. began close to a real encounter with the city, while the finished  song now preserves that experience in a fixed form. When you hear it today, which  detail still matches your memory exactly? 

Cate: All of it. The hope, the excitement, being afraid to fail, seeing how hard it is if you  want to pursue your dream but still going for it. But then: It’s not necessarily about L.A.:  L.A. can be any place where you decide to go after what you dream of.

I Like the Weather takes a phrase that could pass through an ordinary  conversation without attracting much attention and places it at the centre of a song.  Where did those words actually come from? What was happening when one of you  first said or wrote them? 

Cate: I didn’t pick the phrase up somewhere. It came to me as a way of reacting to things I  don’t appreciate, and of putting a little distance between myself and them. Nothing comes  for free / but the weather / I like the weather. 

Was there a song on Sphinx that one of you considered finished while the other  kept hearing a problem? Tell us what the disagreement was really about, how long it  continued, and which detail in the released version shows where you eventually  landed. 

Micha: We can’t think of a song where one of us considered it finished and the other heard  a fundamental problem. 

Danton Supple entered a creative partnership that already had its own habits,  references and ways of communicating. What was the first decision he asked you to  reconsider? 

Micha: He wasn’t asking us to reconsider anything. His style of producing is very  committed and supportive. Even though we did not know each other before, it all felt really  easy. He is extremely focused and understanding and wanted to make sure we get the  perfect musical backdrop to whatever the story of the song was.  

If each of you had to choose the strongest song on Sphinx, which tracks would  you pick? Make the case for your choice using one detail a casual listener might  miss, and tell us what the other person’s answer reveals about the difference  between your musical tastes. 

Cate: Ohh, that’s a big one. When we record, it’s more about what we both like rather than  dislike. That’s how the name Ivy Flindt evolved in the first place: It’s the third perspective  that comes to life when Micha and I create: And we wanted to honor that perspective with  a name on its own: Ivy Flindt.  

By the time listeners receive Sphinx on November 13, the two of you may  already be mentally somewhere else. What are you actually working on now, which  idea currently has the most energy, and what did making this EP teach you that will  directly affect the next thing carrying the Ivy Flindt name? 

Cate: I am working on different rhythmic structures and have new song ideas I can’t  wait to get to.  

Micha: Releasing this EP is all I am doing right now. That includes the joy of answering  questions like yours!