Tide I
Maagen
Vague A L'Âme
Dreolin
Tide II
Anna
Till Sjöss
Thetis' Wrath
Tide III
Lis
In Tiefster Nacht
Safi
Tide IV

Wermut continue their unwonted forays into realms of unaccustomed music with their latest full length album, "Anna", from the nicely swelling Punch records. Stepping in at a full sixty minutes, the album is homage to the story of the yacht, Anna, built in the late 70’s by a young couple seeking the horizon of dreams, made manifest by their journey on the yacht across the Atlantic.

The susurration of the ocean in the four ‘Tide’ tracks erects supporting pillars for the elucidation of emotive content that would have undoubtedly faced the sailing pair, though expressed by another pair, that of Sofia E. R. and Laszlo P. S. Lambent. Electronics oscillate to post-punk (in the true sense of the meaning), percussion and acoustic guitar, haunting vocals offer obeisance to the ocean and the freedom from constraints it holds within its bourn, accordion bellows like the surge of the fathomless deep and dark currents and the cressets of subtle swells lambent with the light of a newly hatched sun from storm clouds. Ropes creak and wood strains in the series of shifting phantasms offered by Wermut.

The album is lovingly packaged in a full colour digipak with an inset 12 page booklet, with photos of the yacht itself interspersed with sparse landscapes. The album belies pigeon-holing, conceptual and unique in its Spartan and eccentric use of instrumentation and juxtaposition. Folk can be found, as electro, as well as oneiric ambient moments, but not similar to earlier Wermut releases.

NYR