These partners in life and music have reached rare heights of sonic invention and personal expression — creating original music with a clairvoyance that their other projects cannot approach. It’s an intimacy that goes back decades, to when they first encountered each other in high school, as “grunge-kid musicians,” per Anthony. The relationship deepened through their college years and into their careers as full-time professionals on the richly diverse D.C. scene. “When we write,” Janel says, “we’re pretty telepathic at this point, as many years as we’ve been playing and improvising together.” Adds Anthony, “We are on the same mission, 100% of the time, in all aspects of life.”

Their 2012 Cuneiform Records debut, Where Is Home, earned critical plaudits for its inviting beyond-genre explorations, a seamless blend of composition and improvisation, otherworldly electronics and masterful technique. DownBeat said the album holds “a marvelous surprise at every turn.”

Now, at long last, Janel and Anthony have returned to the record bin after more than a decade, with an ambitious double album, New Moon in the Evil Age, that reconciles two facets of their lifelong obsessions in art and music. The first half is a stunning 10-track instrumental disc of inventively produced duets; the second, an evocative nine-track vocal album, reflects the pair’s enduring love of rock, pop and alternative songcraft.