Biography
Montibus Communitas emerged from Lima, Peru as a psych-folk ensemble frequently viewed through the lens of collective improvisation. Their actual releases, though, reveal tightly ceremonial and hypnotic processes in which individual players weave spontaneous contributions around predetermined frameworks. Deep echoes of Popol Vuh, Amon Düül II, the Source Family, Trees Community, the Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, and Japan’s Ghost shape their palette.
Musicians already active in Peru’s psych, indie, and vanguard scenes assembled the project in Lima around a shared commitment to spiritually grounded creation. Membership rotates from one release to the next and currently includes Pedro Fukuda on vocals, guitar, percussion, pan flute, quena, and organ; Carlos Vidal on bass; Anna Cuadra on violin, percussion, and vocals; Paul Saavedra on synthesizer, flute, and vocals; Brayan Buck on guitar, percussion, vocals, organ, pan flute, and quena; and Sergio Zanabria on percussion, while bassist Teté Leguía and vocalist Efrain Rozas appear as occasional contributors.
Four extended pieces formed the limited-edition debut album, pressed in 500 vinyl copies by Greece’s Musicbazz/Cosmic Eye Records and offered digitally via the band’s Bandcamp page. Another live document, Hacia Aquellos Bosques de Inmensidad, was captured the same year yet surfaced only in 2012 on Trouble in Mind. Ānanda Saṃgha, drawn from multiple 2011 and 2012 performances, reached listeners in 2013 both digitally and on cassette through Sky Lantern, which simultaneously released the split Offerings for the Destroyer with O*YN.
Harvest Times arrived digitally on the winter solstice of 2013 via Bandcamp; its eight songs marked the first time the group worked exclusively with shorter and mid-length compositions. The follow-up, The Pilgrim to the Absolute, took shape as a conceptual work inspired by Léon Bloy’s mystical Christian text of the same name. Early improvisations, sonic experiments, and free jams supplied its architecture and restored the long-form approach, with Beyond Beyond Is Beyond issuing the album in late September 2014.
Musicians already active in Peru’s psych, indie, and vanguard scenes assembled the project in Lima around a shared commitment to spiritually grounded creation. Membership rotates from one release to the next and currently includes Pedro Fukuda on vocals, guitar, percussion, pan flute, quena, and organ; Carlos Vidal on bass; Anna Cuadra on violin, percussion, and vocals; Paul Saavedra on synthesizer, flute, and vocals; Brayan Buck on guitar, percussion, vocals, organ, pan flute, and quena; and Sergio Zanabria on percussion, while bassist Teté Leguía and vocalist Efrain Rozas appear as occasional contributors.
Four extended pieces formed the limited-edition debut album, pressed in 500 vinyl copies by Greece’s Musicbazz/Cosmic Eye Records and offered digitally via the band’s Bandcamp page. Another live document, Hacia Aquellos Bosques de Inmensidad, was captured the same year yet surfaced only in 2012 on Trouble in Mind. Ānanda Saṃgha, drawn from multiple 2011 and 2012 performances, reached listeners in 2013 both digitally and on cassette through Sky Lantern, which simultaneously released the split Offerings for the Destroyer with O*YN.
Harvest Times arrived digitally on the winter solstice of 2013 via Bandcamp; its eight songs marked the first time the group worked exclusively with shorter and mid-length compositions. The follow-up, The Pilgrim to the Absolute, took shape as a conceptual work inspired by Léon Bloy’s mystical Christian text of the same name. Early improvisations, sonic experiments, and free jams supplied its architecture and restored the long-form approach, with Beyond Beyond Is Beyond issuing the album in late September 2014.
Albums