Album review | Janel & Anthony’s Where Is Home

By Luke Stewart ·


Janel & Anthony is not a jazz group. Janel & Anthony is not an indie-rock band. They are not a classical duo.

Janel & Anthony are in a genre all of their own. Since the release of Where is Home this year on the Silver Spring-based Cuneiform Records, the electro-acoustic duo has quickly achieved a cult following among the experimental music community.

CapitalBop’s Best Albums of 2012
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Formed in Northern Virginia, Janel & Anthony started jamming together in the early 2000s when they were on break from college. Janel’s classical training and Anthony’s jazz abilities combined to form a radical new sound. Over the years, that sound has developed into a cohesive array of original music that sweeps and undulates with digitally altered tones and subtle rhythms.

 
The songs on their new album are a pleasant mix of composed material interspersed with improvised vignettes. The mood overall is melancholy and beautiful, evoking the emotions of a vagabond musician. Where is Home is an appropriate title and theme for this release.

From the rock-leaning “Big Sur” to the cinematic “Where Will We Go,” the duo masterfully crafts soundscapes using a collection of effects pedals, while executing each composition with virtuosity.

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You can purchase Where Is Home at cuneiformrecords.com.

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About Luke Stewart

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Luke Stewart is CapitalBop's co-founder and director of presenting. He's also a renowned DC/NYC-based musician and organizer of other important musical presentations, with a presence in the national and international professional music community. He was profiled in the Washington Post in early 2017 as “holding down the jazz scene,” selected as “Best Musical Omnivore” in the Washington City Paper’s 2017 “Best of DC,” chosen as “Jazz Artist of the Year” for 2017 in the District Now, and in the 2014 People Issue of the Washington City Paper as a “Jazz Revolutionary,” citing his multi-faceted cultural activities throughout DC. In DC his regular ensembles include experimental jazz trio Heart of the Ghost, Low Ways Quartet featuring guitarist Anthony Pirog, and experimental rock duo Blacks’ Myths.  As a solo artist, he has been compiling a series of improvisational sound structures for Upright Bass and Amplifier. As a scholar/performer, he has performed and lectured at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Medgar Evers College, George Mason University, Wayne State University, University of Montana, New Mexico State University, and the University of South Carolina. He holds a BA in International Studies and a BA in Audio Production from American University, and an MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from the New School. Reach Luke at [email protected].

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