The Indiana quintet, Murder by Death, does not play heavy metal.

While its name suggests distorted power chords and guttural screams, the project’s songs are more Modest Mouse than Shadows Fall. With its most recent album, Good Morning, Magpie, Murder by Death plays heavy Americana, standing out from the minimal folk set-up with both bass and cello. Returning to his second year at Middlewest Fest Friday, lead vocalist and guitarist, Adam Turla spoke to the Northern Star about style, fishing and El Burrito Loco.

Northern Star: Murder by Death seems to incorporate a wide variety of sounds and styles. How would you describe your music?

Adam Turla: I usually try not to just because we don’t have a definite goal in mind of what the music we’re trying to make is, but one of the main things we’re trying to do is make garage music without it being heavy — something that has a lot of spirit, depth to it, without having to scream or rely on big, distorted guitars. That being said, a lot of people call us southern Gothic or American rock ‘n’ roll.

NS: Murder by Death frequently plays in DeKalb. What makes you keep coming back?

AT: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We’ve always had great shows there. John Ugolini, who’s putting on the fest: he’s a nice dude–we’ve known him forever at this point, and we like working with him. It’s a good gig. It’s pretty close to home – it’s one of those regional places that since we live over in southern Indiana, there’s some places like DeKalb and Champaign that we just keep coming back to over the years, like Iowa City and Kansas – great college towns that remind us of the town we live in, Bloomington.

NS: What about Middlewest Fest has got you guys so excited to play this year?

AT: It was great last year. And this year it sounds fun doing the outdoors thing, and I just like the idea of more of these small-town festivals. It’s a great thing for folks to look forward to. There’s some bigger, national acts coming in. I’m really excited for the Fest.

NS: Are there any acts you are personally excited to see?

AT: I remember [The Tossers] being good dudes, so I’m excited to see those guys because it’s been a while. Maps & Atlases is playing, and I’ve been hearing about them, but I haven’t seen them yet. So yeah, I’m always curious to know who plays festivals – to see who’s out there.

NS: What’s the message Murder by Death wants to share with its listeners?

AT: I guess we just try to let the music do that. Like I said earlier, I just like the idea of having music that has sort of that Rock ‘n’ Roll spirit to it. I feel like there’s not that many rock ‘n’ roll bands out there right now and we just try to do something that has that energy. We’re just trying to make interesting music for people who care to hear it – I hope people like it.

NS: Are you all working on another album currently?

AT: Yeah we are; we’ve been writing intensely for about two months. We’ve got enough material for a record, but we’re going to keep writing and pick just the best songs. We’ve never worked as hard on a record or been so prolific as for this one. I’m really excited about it. I wrote a new song yesterday – I went out on a boat fishing for like six hours and ended up writing this song that’s very cool and sexy and dark.

NS: Do you have a favorite DeKalb activity?

AT: We always get the chile relleno burrito [at El Burrito Loco]. It’s a tradition at this point. Every time after a show, or before a show, we go get a chile relleno burrito. I know it’s silly, but food is constantly present on my mind.