Berlin-based WELTSCHMERZ pairs warm, melancholic hip-hop with organic instrumentation on Refugium, a four-track instrumental EP. The project’s reflective approach is informed by its creator’s earlier work in Berlin’s 2000s drum & bass scene, now reshaped through jazz-inflected harmony, downtempo grooves, and understated lo-fi production.
The EP’s title track opens the release with memorable immersion, fusing laid-back guitar tones with driving hip-hop rhythms. The addition of a chilled-out piano presence adds further to the intoxicating soundscape, also adorned by slight performance elements that range from backing wordless ethereality to the initial cut-up haziness. The ensuing “Missing Out” is fit for a rainy day, with touches of brass bolstering the mellow yet enchanting piano drive, for a lo-fi jazz and hip-hop sophistication. While the opening title track enamors in its driving energy, “Missing Out” showcases the project’s ability to dabble in subdued realms as well.
Next up, “Beyond Noise” struts tender guitar work amidst twinkling, starry-eyed keys, sending chills around midpoint when solemn piano takes momentary lead before complemented further by twinkling serenity and tactful guitar insertions. Concluding the EP, “Still Life” delivers a vibrantly inviting mixture of brassy blares, jazzy piano, and thumping rhythmic precision. It’s another intoxicating, atmospherically blissful standout on an EP in Refugium that consistently stirs in its absorbing songcraft from WELTSCHMERZ.
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“Refugium” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
