Washington, D.C. cellist Janel Leppin and guitarist Anthony Pirog charge out of the gate with "Big Sur," the leadoff track on Janel Anthony's 2012 album, Where Is Home. Like many pieces on this 13-track disc, "Big Sur" begins in floating ambience thanks to the duo's mastery of electronics and looping. However, it soon takes off with Leppin's plucked ostinato line beneath Pirog's jangly, ringing electric 12-string guitar. Leppin's North Indian and Persian classical music background and Pirog's abilities on both the electric sitar and guitar are fully displayed on this powerful track, with a jagged theme, rhythmic drive, and soloing suggesting a 21st century instrumental version of the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" for the post-post-rock generation. Things calm down after this first four and a half minutes, as remarkably textured and finely detailed electronic ambiences set a mood of contemplative spaciousness beneath tunes considerably more relaxed than the opener. Janel Anthony are wise enough not to devote the remainder of Where Is Home to explorations of inner and outer space for their own sake, though, and like the most engaging ambient-inclined rock- and jazz-based artists, they use loops and electronics as a mood-setting backdrop for their compositions. The chorus of "Leaving the Woods" is announced by an echoed chord strum that centers the listener's attention without weighing down the tune's dreamy float; "Lily in the Garden" comes into sharp focus with an emphatic cello-guitar unison line; and deep layers of counterpoint melody are embellished by crisp, reedy harpsichord tones (Leppin and Pirog play many more instruments that cello and guitar) contrasting the rich strings on "A Viennesian Life."

1		Big Sur
2		The Clearing
3		Leaving the Woods
4		Symphony Hills
5		Lily in the Garden
6		Auburn Road
7		Mustang Song
8		Stay With Me
9		A Viennesian Life
10		Broome's Orchard
11		'Cross the Williamsburg Bridge
12		Where Will We Go
13		Finale