Hard Lounge (LP)

RWR’s latest release comes straight from Berlin’s underground Electronic Jazz scene. Simon Herody, originally from the South of France but living in the German capital since 2020, delivers an eight-track suite of ambient-informed Jazz. The album grew out of solo gigs in hotel lobbies, low-key half improvised sets where Simon blended sequenced electronics with live sax, clarinet and flute. These in-between spaces, half-public and half-private, set the tone for Hard Lounge: an eight-track trip that’s ambient enough to fade into the background, but rich enough to keep you engaged. There’s a clear love for 80s New Age and Electronic Jazz, but it’s not just nostalgia – the album also channels leftfield Japanese Pop and Ambient.