Roma di Luna

In an amazing, freewheeling show back in September, acoustic duo Roma di Luna not only kicked off The Cedar's eighteenth season, but also celebrated the release of their second studio album. Now it is time to celebrate anew, with the release of the group's third studio recording Casting the Bones! 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 possess 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.

Joining Roma di Luna this evening is The Spaghetti Western String Co., is an instrumental acoustic quartet from Minneapolis, MN that began its career in the winter of 2003. Their music is fit for film scores and at times bittersweet and chaotic. They are two-time recipients of Minnesota Music Awards in 2005 and 2006 for 'Eclectic Artist of the Year.' The current line-up features Michael Rossetto (banjo, guitar), Nicholas Lemme (mandolin, guitar, voice), Ethan Sutton (cello), and Paul Fonfara (clarinet). They have performed on such local stages as the Fitzgerald Theater, Orchestra Hall, the Southern Theater and more significantly, have given many memorable performances at The Cedar.

Tickets on sale noon Fri May 9 from Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), Cedar outlets, and online at Ticketweb.

$12 advance / $15 day of show