In September of 2014 the Cuban progressive rock act Anima Mundi gave their last concert in the Netherlands. This was done at De Cacaofabriek in Helmond (see review). Now two years later with a new album in their pocket and with a slightly changed line up, the band returned to our country for a couple more concerts. These concerts were part of the bands 20th anniversary tour. During the concerts it was obvious they would promote their brand new album I Me Myself. The Background Magazine team did choose to see them perform the brand new songs at a venue that has in the meantime become a kind of second home for our crew because the hospitality of the people at De Pul in Uden is very much appreciated. The band that supported Anima Mundi at this venue was strangely enough the same band that also supported them when they said goodbye to their Dutch fans at the earlier mentioned venue in 2014. The Dutch act Unkh.
 

Unkh

Jeroen Habraken

Two years ago Unkh played a rather strong 45 minute long set which contained songs taken from their debut Traveller (2014, see review) only. Of course time didn't stand still for this band and they worked on new material in the meantime. The best way to see if those compositions work and are suitable to record for their second album is to try them out during a live performance. Therefore the band chose to present during their time on stage brand new pieces of music only. For me personally and I guess others present who are familiar with the band would have loved to hear tracks such as Borderlines.Fr and Theme Of The Mighty Mushroom as well. However those who did see the band doing their support for Frequency Drift at the same venue in 2014 (see review) could hear an epic piece which they could have recognized. When I heard Dreamcatcher for the first time it was still under construction. The song has since that time developed in a very positive way just like the other new compositions that I love on their upcoming new album. Most of all the melodic tracks You Are I Am and Delusional Warp are real progressive rock tunes that will attract a lot of progheads. The songs contain beautiful solos played by Frits Appel on the electric guitar and by singer Jeroen Habraken on the keyboards.

Matthijs van Nahuijs

For those who like their daily prog a little bit more experimental and complex are advised to check out the other two performed songs Flight Of The Night Owl and the earlier mentioned Dreamcatcher. They move music wise more towards a style which can be heard on albums made by bands such as King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Just like two years ago again a rather strong 45 minutes set could be enjoyed.

Hearing now the large part of their next release certainly made me looking forward to the band's second album. Finally I have a remark which comes from the people who have watched the band on stage. I heard them talking about the bands presentation on stage. Which looked a bit static and hardly did contain any contact with the audience. Also the band members were not introduced and it looked as if they were playing on an island with no audience surrounding them. Therefore it is advised they should be working even more on their overall presentation when they do their thing on stage. Which is music wise absolutely OK!
 

Anima Mundi

For the headliners things didn't exactly turn out as were planned. The usual preparation before a concert did not go as it should have. No serious soundcheck could be done and therefore probably the band members set foot on the stage a little bit nervous. Most of all the two new boys Michel Bermudez (lead vocals, keyboard, acoustic guitar and percussion) and Marco Alonso (drums and saxophone) were not in this situation before. Performing in front of a large number of people is already something which they don't do every day and when the

Michel Bermudez

preparations towards a performance don't go very smoothly another unexpected factor comes along. However it wasn't notable from the fan's sight, who did see a band go through their songs as if it was business as usual. Therefore complements to the musicians who maintained their professionalism on stage until the final note was played. Although the situation with the keyboard sound of Virginia Peraza did force the band to stop playing for a very short moment until it was solved.

As for the performance itself, I can tell you I had a marvelous time during the two sets they did. It certainly helped a lot that I already heard the band's new album I Me Myself, something which couldn't be said for most of the spectators present. The album was just released and not everybody was able to buy a copy and therefore would try to get it at the merchandise table at the end of the show. Not knowing the songs from the new album was rather important because the entire new album was done. So for most of the fans in front of the stage the largest part of what they did hear was new to their ears but I guess they must have enjoyed it as much as those who already could get hold of the band's fifth studio album. The songs on it are as strong as the songs on their earlier releases. From the band's back catalogue some songs could be enjoyed as well. From their former release The Lamplighter (2013, see review) two pieces were done. In the first set the combi-track The Return (Part 1) & Endless Star was performed. And in the second set the band did a rearranged version of The Call And Farewell Song containing an excellent synthesizer solo by Virginia. From The Way (2010, see review) again two tracks were perfectly done. Time To Understand as the closer for the first set and Cosmic Man as the closer for the second set. Both songs sounded vocal wise better than the last time the band performed them in the Netherlands. The new lead singer Michel Bermudez was most of all to blame.

Marco Alonso

His voice comes closer to the way Carlos Sosa sang them on the original studio versions-way better than former lead singer Emmanuel Pirko-Farrath, who has a totally different voice. Unfortunately no material from their debut Septentrión (2002, see review) was included on the set list this time around. From the bands second release Jagannath Orbit (2008, see review) one track was planned to be the encore together with Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. However no encore could be done because of a curfew at midnight. You could say a support act and two different sets (with a break in between) from the headliners was the reason Anima Mundi could not finish their concert in time before the curfew would take place. So the audience couldn't sing-a-along with Sanctuary as they usually do. On the other hand the audience could enjoy at the start of the first set a brand new instrumental piece of music, which isn't on any album release. They named it Ambient. This is mainly a composition on which band leader Roberto Díaz lets his electric guitar do all the talking. It is also a short intro to the new song Somewhere and the perfect way to let his fellow musicians join him on stage one by one and to let them play along with him on this new track.

Although the musicians of Anima Mundi had mixed feelings about their performance you could say they once again did set the house of fire with their music. The new album was presented in a perfect way. The songs from it got excellent live renditions, with room for improvisations from time to time. The same could be said about the way they presented their older material. They were a feast of recognition and showed once more how great this Cuban progressive rock band is in front of a live audience! So I can only say 'Gracias y hasta la próxima vez!', or in English 'Thanks and until next time!'.

Henri Strik (edited by Robert James Pashman)