Roma di Luna: Bio

Now (updated bio)

Roma di Luna’s third studio recording ‘Casting the Bones’ is as much an exploration into the group’s sound as it is a total reinvention of the aesthetics and boundaries their previous records have established. ‘Casting the Bones’ refers to fortune telling methods of old, gambling games, and can also be interpreted as a common technique for healing a broken bone- All of these definitions fit comfortably with this collection of songs that are at once familiar, intriguing, ambitious, and posses a healing quality for both listener and songwriter alike.
Singer/songwriter husband/wife team Alexei and Channy Moon Casselle keep their feet rooted in the traditional folk song idiom with Bones while their hands seem to reach freely for whatever nuance or shape they wish to apply to their creations.
Where last year’s release of ‘Find Your Way Home felt more like the duo’s project with some assistance from hired hands, Casting the Bones is a full band collaboration at its finest with each player adding just the right ingredient and nothing more.
Another evolutionary step for Roma di Luna was the recording process itself, which supplied much more cohesive and organic results with this newest release that was recorded almost entirely in one intensive session and tracked live, as opposed to former methods of patchwork recording in which every track was recorded individually and sometimes weeks apart from each other.
Co-produced and engineered by Ben Durrant at Crazy Beast Studio (Andrew Bird, Dosh), Durrant also played electric guitar along with myriad instruments and manipulated sounds on the record giving it a layer of unworldly and ethereal undertones, yet the album remains anchored with Alexei and Channy’s comforting vocal narrative and passionate deliveries respectively.
Coming just nine months after their last album, this body of work is urgent rather than rushed, brimming with inspiration from both tragic and triumphant peaks within the group’s personal lives.
Alexei and Channy also plan to release a limited pressing of home recordings of traditional folk songs in the fall of 2008 entitled Songbook Vol.1.

Roma di Luna has also released:
Face of my Friends EP(2006, self released), Find Your Way Home (2007, self released).

Casting the Bones CD Release @ the Cedar Cultural Center 6/14/08 with Spaghetti Western String Co. and more!

From the beginning...

Roma di Luna is an acoustic duo whose music recalls early 20th century folk and country music set to modern times. As husband and wife, Alexei and Channy Moon Casselle co-write songs that are plaintive and sometimes dark, noted for simple instrumentation along with piercing, emotively stunning vocals.
Roma di Luna first emerged on the scene through weekly busking performances at the downtown Minneapolis farmer’s market beginning in 2005, playing traditional numbers from Alan Lomax songbooks and eventually working more of their original songs into their spirited sets. Their first visit to a recording studio in Spring 2006 resulted in the track “These Tears Ain’t Mine” which was featured on the Twin Town High 2006 compilation CD and has gone on to garner a local buzz and regular airplay on local radio.
In 2007, Roma di Luna began performing regularly with as many as five additional musicians, creating a fuller and more realized sonic experience via drums, electric guitar, bass, banjo and back up vocals to compliment the couple’s voices, violin and acoustic guitar.

What to expect live:

Although Roma di Luna started off and maintained itself strictly as a duo for the first two years of its inception, the sound and thus the roster has grown as of 2007. A full backing band plays with the duo at the majority of their shows featuring Ben Durrant on electric guitar, JG Everest on bass guitar, Ryan Lovan on drums, Jessi Prusha on backing vocals and ocassionally Michael Rossetto on banjo.
This is the line up which played on the Find Your Way Home record, with the exception of Steve Yasgar on drums and Eliza Blue on back up vocals.
For all those who shutter at the thought of an intimate folky duo backed by a full on band, I assure you, you can put your doubts to rest. Each musician adds just the right touch and nothing else, letting the singer and the raw power of each individual track shine through clearly.
Roma di Luna does still play as a duo if requested or if the venue/event calls for it. Please contact us for more information.