Januar

The music on Januar’s latest can be hazy, indistinct and difficult to pin down — and that’s generally a good thing. Rather than present their material in straightforward ways, the performers create a series of aural moods in which mystery and merit are joined at the hip.

The Januar lineup is down by a quarter; the only sign of former drummer Katie Aikins is a thank-you on the new disc’s sleeve. However, Amy and Jeremy Burbick, who play guitar and sing, and drummer/vocalist Patty Holland compensate for Aikins’s absence via production that ladles atmosphere onto the likes of “Undertow,” whose harmonies are enhanced by a canyon’s worth of echo. Tunes such as “C Chord” are too rudimentary to take advantage of such dial-twisting, but “Schism” and “Go With What Ya Know” are marked by darkness and complexity that blossom in the studio.

Fortunately, The Way Back Home isn’t as simple as it seems.