Exitmusic's Aleksa Palladino Dishes on Juggling Music and 'Boardwalk Empire'

'Boardwalk Empire' star Aleksa Palladino, who plays Angela Darmody on the HBO hit, isn't just another actress-turned-singer. She and husband Devon Church make up indie-electronica duo Exitmusic, who released their EP, 'From Silence' and toured with Phantogram this fall.

Spinner recently had the pleasure of catching up with Palladino about life on the road, juggling careers and the romantic story behind her courtship.

How was the recent tour?

It was amazing, actually. Really great. We have a lot to get into right away. We're finishing up our album, so it's good to get home and actually get right to work. We're three-fourths into it, so it's still taking shape. We're still exploring what the final tracks on it will be, so it's hard to really know what it's gonna be. That's kind of what makes it fun, to have to still write it. If we knew what the rest of it was gonna be, it'd probably be more of a job than an exploration.

Did you record the EP in Brooklyn?

Yeah, we recorded that at home. I grew up in New York, so I recorded for years there, but I never released anything. Our first album we recorded all in L.A.

Certain parts of L.A. have such a weird and creepy vibe, it would seem like a good place to record.

Absolutely. It's funny because we did live there for a while, and it really did sort of stamp itself on our sound, on the first album, especially. There's definitely moments where I feel like going to L.A. for a month and just locking ourselves in some little house in the hills and writing, just because there's nothing happening there [laughs]. There's so much that your imagination can pull from there.

It seems like New York could be inspiring in that way, as well.

Yeah, I know, but for some reason it doesn't quite work that way. It's harder to feel that sort of silent space where you really want to write from. For me, my whole life is New York -- family, everybody -- so a lot of things are always asking for attention, but when we were in L.A., there was really nothing. Even though New York may be a more inspiring city, I get more inspired thinking of L.A., in a way. My life there was so much more simple in mind, and quiet.

Why don't you move back?

Well I do like New York better [laughs]. I don't drive, so that's a good reason to not move back. I don't know. I think in L.A., in terms of the music scene, it's a really strange place. It's really hard to get the feeling that something's happening, or the feeling that something can make it out of there. When we were there, there was a cool little indie scene, but it was so small and so sort of limited, just by its own choices and its own taste. New York feels like, you know, if you're out there playing shows regularly and you're good, then one foot just sort naturally walks in front of the other and you get somewhere. Where, I don't know. I never really felt that way about L.A. It's really easy for stuff just to kinda be lost in the vacuum.

Now, how did you and Devon first meet?

We first met when we were 18, on a train in Canada. Devon's from Canada, and I was traveling, just with my best friend. We met on the train and hung out in this little smoking car that they used to have. I don't know if they still have those ... and yeah, between the two of us, we felt like there was something really familiar. We were too young to really understand it in words, but there was a feeling of sort of knowing each other. We spent a couple of days together and then I went back to New York and Devon went back to Winnipeg, and we sorta lost touch for, I think like, two or three years. He had written me a letter that I didn't respond to, but then three years into it I did respond, and we started talking again. And then, within that year he moved to New York and moved in with me, and we started writing music together.

Why didn't you respond at first?

Hm. I don't know. I was that way when I was a kid. Basically, I was 18 and really focused on my own music and sort of doing my own thing, and not really being attached to someone else. It was a self-protective thing for sure. I really wanted to build who I was and not have anybody else really that close to it yet.

In the pre-Internet era, it was like that. You'd meet people and never see them again.

Yeah, totally. I know.

Which was kinda cool.

Yeah, I know. It's funny. We are one of the only relationships I know that's still going that started with pen and paper.

Now, when you're working on a film or on 'Boardwalk Empire,' does that interrupt your musical creative process?

Not really. They're so similar. When I'm really into a character, it winds up bringing up so much emotional stuff and so much of my own experience that it's just a natural thing to me, to write out of it. For me, they've been things that have only heightened the experience of the other. I feel like the point is to become better at expressing truer things about yourself, so they both do that. It's like the same muscle kinda gets exercised. So yeah, it's not like a different part of the brain takes over doing one or the other, for me. They're the same.

Is it disruptive? Does a character ever influence the music that you're writing?

Yeah, definitely. Anything that you're experiencing takes over, but it's better if it's a character, something else creative and expressive, than like, a bulls--- job, influencing my music writing, you know [laughs]?