Hard Lounge, by Simon Herody

Hard Lounge

by Simon Herody

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Chris. I wish I had a lobby back home so I could play this all day and people would just chill to this. Solid LP!

	/

Streaming + Download

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€9 EUR or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Vinyl pressing of the Hard Lounge album by Simon Herody

Includes unlimited streaming of Hard Lounge via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

ships out within 7 days

Purchasable with gift card

€23 EUR or more

1.	Sunny Terasse 03:42	buy track
2.	Table For Two 07:19	buy track
3.	May I Join? 03:16	buy track
4.	Dimmed Lights 06:50	buy track
5.	City Lights 06:22	buy track
6.	Kupka's Design 04:16	buy track
7.	Sleep Tuff 03:29	buy track
8.	Running Behind 02:45	buy track

about

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. A big turning point was hearing Heisei No Oto (that killer compilation on Music From Memory) & Music For Dance & Theatre, Vol. 2, also released on MFM, which blew the doors wide open in terms of texture and mood.

While working shifts at Motif, a bar and record shop in Neukölln, Simon started deep-listening to these kinds of records, thinking about how sound can shape space and attention. Design and architecture trickled into the album’s artwork, hinting at a broader idea: that music, like furniture or lighting, can be part of how a space feels — part of the design. That blend of curiosity and immersion became the blueprint for Hard Lounge, a record that plays with presence, atmosphere and memory.

credits

released June 6, 2025

Composed & Performed by Simon Herody in Berlin 2024
Recorded & Mixed by Jeremy Black
Mastering by Wouter Brandenburg
Project Management by Boris van der Hoff
Illustration by Simon Herody
Graphic Design by Megin Hayden
Special Thanks to Maren Frey for the Love & Support
Records We Release Records 2025