WERMUT was founded in 2001 in Hamburg, Germany, by Laszlo P.S. and Sofia E.R..
Laszlo and Sofia had already been partners in crime for a couple of years under the moniker ANENCEPHALIC CRETINISTS, and were involved in various musical ventures within the virtual universe of gigabrother.com. The idea behind WERMUT was to use cold, modern electronic sounds, mixed here and there with antique instruments, to explore themes of a romantic, nostalgic and esoteric nature. An attempt for the duo to come to terms with the crisis of our modern times and express the increasing bitterness they felt in a sickly-sweet, overly self-satisfied world.
WERMUT’s music has been said to escape any easy or strict genre-labelling, always balancing between 80s–style minimal-electro and post-industrial. In recent years, their sound has seen a marked evolution towards a more progressive approach, acknowledging such influences as Berlin School, Kraut-Rock, guitar-drones and Cascadian Post-BM… Moving insidiously from post-apocalyptic minimal-wave to psychedelic prog-electro, WERMUT still claim Tradition in general and the works of French metaphysician René Guénon in particular as their main and ever-growing source of inspiration.
Their works so far have been released on OLD EUROPA CAFÉ, KERNKRACH, ENFANT TERRIBLE and PUNCH RECORDS, as well as on their own (T)REUE UM (T)REUE label, and include collaborations with NOVY SVET, HIS DIVINE GRACE, ECHO WEST, FIENDISH FIB, Ô PARADIS and AIT!
In 2008, Laszlo and Sofia have been joined by multi-instrumentalist Leo from the experimental project NIEDOWIERZANIE. Other occasional members include Falko Grau on drums, Formalhaut B on saxophone and D.B.P.I.U. (Die Bekannten Post-Industriellen Urpferde) on additional vocals.