Minor Moon's Sam Cantor discusses new album 'The Light Up Waltz' ahead of Pittsburgh show

The new album from Minor Moon, a Chicago-based alt country/rock band, comes amid a period of personal stability for the band’s mastermind, Sam Cantor.

“The Light Up Waltz,” released April 12 by Ruination Record Co., balances the positives in his life while also examining what’s happening in the outside world.

“For me it takes a lot of work to hold both of those things in an honest way,” Cantor said. “And making this record was one way of exploring and attempting to do that.”

Minor Moon is touring in support of the album, with a show May 2 at Mr. Smalls Funhouse in Millvale, with support from Pittsburgh musicians Pat Coyle and Thousandz of Beez.

In an email interview, Cantor discussed the new album, Chicago collaborations and the state of the world:

What should people know about “The Light Up Waltz”?

I really just hope people find their own way into it. It’s a vehicle for a lot of storytelling, worldbuilding, trying to dive into the nooks and crannies of big ideas … and all of that is going to mean different things to different people. That’s the point. And it’s also just a piece of music that I hope people can get something out of, be surprised by, move around to and enjoy without necessarily needing to dig into the words. But if you wanna dig in, you are invited 🙂

If you were to pick one track off the album for people to listen to, what would it be and why?

Probably “Miriam Underwater” — it’s such a fun core band performance with a lot of playful production that I think/hope captures the joy we felt making it. And it zooms in on a couple of the central motifs on the record: transformation & water ????

How did your period of personal stability and creativity influence this album?

Well, I think I was in a place where I was ready to grow as a guitar player, and most of the compositional stuff on this record came from a lot of focused experimentation alone on the guitar. That kind of exploration, for me, is really only possible with a certain amount of general stability and positivity in other parts of my life.

From a lyrical perspective, there’s a lot of tension between a sense of internal optimism, lightness and hope from within and a lot of darkness in the world beyond that. I wanted to inhabit that sense of possibility that I was feeling internally and also look head-on at the idea that things are really not OK with our wider world, and they will likely get worse overall before they get better.

How do you make peace with that? How do you act within that kind of reality? I don’t really know the answer to those questions, but I tried to explore them in these songs.

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How did this album benefit from collaboration with others in the Chicago music community?

In a very literal sense, all of the sounds performed on this record come from this music community. From the band: Max Subar, Chet Zenor, Jason Ashworth, Sam Subar; to the guest musicians: V.V. Lightbody, Macie Stewart, Sima Cunningham, Dustin Laurenzi, Hunter Diamond, Elizabeth Moen, Andrew Sa and Lia Kohl; and Dave Vettraino who recorded and mixed; and Greg Obis who mastered it; they each contribute so much to this city with their own solo work and collaborations.

But in a broader sense, I think my taste and sense of what music and record-making can be has been deeply shaped by this community, by all of the shows I’ve seen, bands I’ve played with and people I’ve learned from here. More specifically, there’s a really vibrant and expansive country music current that I’ve been super inspired by and honored to be involved in in various ways. And there are local influences I’m sure I’m not even consciously aware of. I just think this record is very deeply a product of what’s been happening in Chicago music the past few years.

You’ve mentioned that this album is a “collection of folktales about a world after collapse.” Do you feel like the world is in a little better shape after the past few years?

No, definitely not. Sadly. I mean, I’m really grateful to be able to play shows again after the lockdown, and I’m grateful for so much in my local community. But there are too many horrific things going on right now for me to entertain any illusion that things are improving.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t improve! And it certainly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to build our own alternatives to our present reality.

And I will say that in this dark and disorienting context, I find a deeper sense of awe and inspiration observing the strength, resilience and creativity I see from so many people everyday. And I guess holding all of those things at once is also what a lot of these songs are about.