Perhaps better known as emcee Cresent Moon, Moon Casselle threw a curveball at the indie-rap community back in 2005 by playing a series of acoustic folk shows along with his wife, Channy. Their love of early folk and country music blossomed into Roma di Luna, which has since grown from a duo into a full band, and from farmer’s market background music into one of the Twin Cities’ most compelling acts. Culture Bully’s Kyle “El Guante” Myhre sits down with Alexei Moon Casselle for this week’s installment of Five Questions.

Kyle Myhre: For the people who know you as Crescent Moon, or as one of the guys in Oddjobs or Kill the Vultures, or as Slug’s old hypeman or whatever, let’s talk about Roma di Luna. What drew you to this style of music?

Alexei Moon Casselle: Its purity, the simplicity. For most of my adult life hip hop was pretty much all that I listened to, so when I discovered a style of music that was every bit as soulful and socially aware as hip hop it was very refreshing and humbling at the same time. It was inspiring to learn of bluesmen and folk troubadours armed only with a guitar and their voice going out and taking on industrial empires, stories of man versus machine, hard traveling, women, being broke and drunk. These were things that I could relate to or at least seemed more relevant than the subjects I was used to hearing about in songs.

KM: The soundtracks to Cold Mountain and O Brother Where Art Thou were both pretty big hits, and your music seems to be gaining momentum as well. What is it about early twentieth century roots folk/country that resonates with people today?

AMC: I think it’s the same things that drew me in: pure, simple songs that are easy on the ears. Those are the original American pop songs, the foundation, so it makes sense that there is still an audience for “old-timey” music.

I remember back when I was a kid if someone asked me what kind of music I liked I’d say pretty much anything except country… I found out there’s some badass country music, too! Look at Johnny Cash for example: Dude was famous as hell fifty years ago and today his music is more celebrated than ever. He was making solid records right up until he died. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t get much better than that.

There will always be people who feel alienated by contemporary pop music, too; maybe they feel nostalgia for a music that comes from something familiar and more innocent. That’s the funny thing, though. A lot of those old songs are talking about the same things you’ll hear in today’s music; they just had to hide it better. “Goodnight Irene” sounds like a lullaby but the verses read like a suicide note. A lot of those old blues songs were talking about straight up dirty sex but they’d hide it in metaphor and this was back when singing a song about holding a girl’s hand was controversial.

KM: What can we expect from the new album? Do you have a favorite track? Any overarching themes or motifs?

AMC: I don’t know what to say about the new album other than I hope you listen to it. I’m really proud of it and I think it’s our best recording to date. There’s a pretty wide range of mood and energy. It’s a lot of storytelling; some fictional, some not. We recorded at Crazy Beast Studio (Dosh, Andrew Bird) in NE Minneapolis, with Ben Durrant running the boards and producing the record with us as well as playing electric guitar and other sounds on the record. This album was definitely a full band collaboration, which was really fun since everyone just threw what they wanted to into each track and that was pretty much how we kept it.

KM: Channy’s short guest appearance on the new Atmosphere album (on the song “Puppets”) was one of my favorite musical moments this year. How did that collaboration come about?

AMC: Slug has been very supportive of our band and he must just be a fan of Channy’s singing because he just asked her if she’d come into the studio and try singing on a couple tracks. I think it’s really exciting to hear her in a completely different context outside Roma di Luna. You know Channy always wanted to be an R&B singer, so maybe this’ll start her on a whole new path.

KM: Where can people catch Roma di Luna in the next couple months? The release party is 6/14, but are there any other particularly exciting shows on the horizon?

AMC: We’re gonna be on TV! ‘The Almanac’ show on TPT (Channel 2,17), June 13th at like 7pm. The release party at The Cedar is June 14th with Spaghetti Western String Co. and Tiriti Mundi Flamenco. We’re at the 7th St. Entry with Jeremy Messersmith May 30th, Lee’s Liquor Lounge July 25th and we’ll be at the Triple Rock with Black Blondie on August 15th.

Roma di Luna - Official Site
Roma di Luna - MySpace Site

Roma di Luna “Casting the Bones” (album)
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