Roma di Luna = Gypsy of the Moon
Roma di Luna weave ethereal and psychedelic soundscapes that drift from genre to genre and era to era seamlessly, hinting at the eclectic make up of the band and the stream of conscious vibe that places them directly in the moment at any given time.
This is Roma di Luna
Alexei Casselle (acoustic guitar, voice, percussion & songwriter)
Ben Durrant (electric guitar, general sound maker & resident sound engineer)
Channy Casselle (voice, violin, piano, tambourine & songwriter)
James Everest (electric bass, voice & additional guitar)
Jessi Prusha (voice & percussion)
Ryan Lovan (drums & more drums)
Additional Players When we are lucky enough to have the opportunity these talented musicians take time from their own musical projects to join us on stage
Michael Rossetto of
Spaghetti Western String Company (banjo)
Dave Olson (trumpet)
Martin Devaney (saxophone)
What was once a husband/wife duo is now a full band experience led by the hauntingly-powerful voice of
Channy Moon Casselle. Channy’s emotive and stunning singing ranges from a soft, heart-broken balladeer to an empowered soul singer and pretty much anything in between. Channy and husband
Alexei Moon Casselle (
Kill the Vultures) began busking at a farmer’s market in Minneapolis circa 2005, drawing attention with their lively, uptempo renditions of traditional folk songs with Channy singing and playing fiddle and Alexei on acoustic guitar.
The duo began recording at
Crazy Beast Studio (Dosh, Andrew Bird) shortly after with engineer Ben Durrant and longtime friend James Everest (Lateduster, Vicious Vicious) adding bass and providing a producer’s ear to the mix. Durrant’s electric guitar and signature unorthodox recording style dramatically enhanced Channy and Alexei’s compositions, bringing an other-worldly realization into the mix.
Those Americana roots shine through on their brand new album Then The Morning Came, from the fiery gospel energy of ‘Mars’ to the hints of bluegrass on ‘Porcupine’, and vintage soul sounds of ‘Hey Lover’ and ‘Before I Die.’ But what makes Roma di Luna special is not what they sound like but rather what they don’t; the band has created a feel all its own that incorporates all the corner stones of American roots music and expands into modern times, striving for universal resonance.
Roma di Luna started simply in 2005, with a husband and wife busking at farmer’s markets to have a good time and make an extra dollar.
The husband was Alexei Moon Casselle, who had already gained some international exposure as MC Crescent Moon of the underground
hip-hop crew Kill The Vultures. While he played acoustic guitar, his wife Channy Moon Casselle played fiddle and sang, and their uptempo
renditions of traditional American numbers and folk tunes were a terrific backing for Channy’s swaying, other-worldly soprano. They named
themselves Roma di Luna, or “Gypsy of the Moon”, as an appropriately romantic nod to Alexei’s name and Channy’s heritage.
It wasn’t too long before they were set to record some of their own compositions that had spun off from the busking experience. At Lucky
Micah and at the Crazy Beast Studio (Dosh, Andrew Bird) run by their friend Ben Durrant, Roma di Luna laid down seven tracks of simple
arrangements, assisted by James Everest (Vicious Vicious, Lateduster) on bass, tambourine and hand claps. Those tracks formed the 2006
EP The Face of My Friends, which was released in a limited run but to local acclaim. Steve McPherson wrote in the Pulse of the Twin Cities
that Roma di Luna "…evoke all that’s good and tender about the American folk tradition. …Channy is gifted with a voice that’s at once
unique and familiar, simultaneously complex and comforting. It has none of the easy contours you’ve come to expect from coffeehouse
chanteuses, falling more into the beguiling range of Jolie Holland. Channy teases a remarkable range of emotion out of it, from the desperate
and pleading “Brother” to the warm and welcoming “The Face of My Friends.”…The simplicity of the arrangements lets the melodies shine
through."
Roma di Luna followed up in 2007 with their debut full-length Find Your Way Home, a record that musically expanded on their folk
arrangements with the assistance again of Durrant and Everest, as well as Michael Rossetto (Spaghetti Western String Company), James
Buckley on bass, Elizabeth Bonacci on vocals and Steve Yasgar (Communist Daughter, A Whisper in the Noise) on drums. Find Your
Way Home also contained a thread of passionate political awareness with tunes like “The Devil Walks” and “Savior, Savior” mixed with
the personal tunes like “Lion” and a sublime cover of “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, originally by Neutral Milk Hotel. Find Your Way
Home was ranked in #6 the Top 25 Local Albums of 2007 by The Onion and reviewing for City Pages, Rick Mason wrote “Evoking an
old-timey Americana vibe riddled with scary hints of neo-Gothic mayhem, Roma di Luna play sparse tunes that squirm and fret under
thriving uncertainty. The husband-and-wife duo of Alexei and Channy Moon Casselle etch tales of harrowing brittleness on their debut,
Find Your Way Home, Channy in particular singing with a fractured radiance that sometimes seems like the bittersweet murmuring of ghosts.”
After the success of Find Your Way Home, Channy and Alexei continued to perform as a duo, most notably garnering invitations to perform
at jazz festivals in France, opening them up to increased international exposure. The precedent that they had set for themselves meant that
Roma di Luna were in need of a full band to fill out and expand the arrangements they were now composing. For their 2008 sophomore
release, Casting the Bones, Durrant and Everest were full-time players and Ryan Lovan (Minor Kingdom) came in on drums with Jessi Prusha
joining as a backing vocalist and Rossetto continued to guest on banjo. Casting the Bones marked the first steps in the transition from duo to
full band, a change which Chris Riemenschneider of the Minneapolis Star Tribune called “effortless” and set the stage for the newest Roma
di Luna release, Then The Morning Came.
Out in October 2010, Then The Morning Came weaves together influences of roots, bluegrass, gospel, psychedelia and soul, arrangements the
full band members brought to the structures supplied by Channy & Alexei. Channy's evocative voice remains front and center, surrounded
by a magnificent array of sounds and textures inspired by the collaborative and adventurous approach the whole band took to producing
the album. Recorded from April of 2009 to July 2010 at Durrant’s Crazy Beast Studio the process of Then The Morning Came was surrounded
by births and deaths, often beset by a chaos and confusion that almost stopped the music-making altogether. Rising from challenges, the
new life of the four babies who were born to the band members during recording was a source of comfort strength. Channy wrote of the
time, “Most of these songs were written and recorded with my newborn daughter in my arms. They are a reflection of the life and death
surrounding her first year on this earth, the love and the madness I found in myself and the amity of all my fears.”
With the growth of the Roma di Luna family, Then The Morning Came builds on the traditions of the band and the cornerstones of American
music, but contains its own exciting locomotive power. Riemenschneider of the Minneapolis Star tribune wrote on February 28th, 2010, "It
was…really sweet to witness Roma di Luna grow from a tender acoustic act to a soulful, innovative rock band that can command a packed
First Ave, thanks in large part to Channy Moon Casselle's hair-raising singing talent." With a group of musicians as talented as Roma di
Luna, it is no surprise that they have taken those roots and made a magnificent record that is wholly and passionately their own.