The name makes them sound like a ’60s folk throwback, their pedigrees suggest academic experimentalism, and the cover of their second album, Where Is Home, evokes a hipster roots-rock eclecticism. Strikingly, all of that (and a bit more besides) is present in Janel and Anthony’s music, but its combination is neither precious nor forbiddingly cerebral. Instead, the DC-based duo of cellist Janel Leppin and guitarist Anthony Pirog craft something accessible yet mysterious, an engaging mélange that’s at once unadornedly direct and fiercely eclectic. Melancholy acoustic melodies are suddenly swallowed by a swarm of agitated loops, or an elegant chamber piece gets lost within a dense thicket of psych-rock blooms. There’s a severe but lovely quality to much of the duo’s music, akin to a fairy-tale forest encased in glass.
Sun., Nov. 4, 8 p.m., $7, with Classical Revolution, Café Clave, 4305 Locust St., riprig.com.
