Januar

Januar hasn't played many shows in its three-year existence, but the quartet has a good reason: Drummer Katie Aiken spends more time in far-flung locales like Pennsylvania and Iceland than she does in Denver. That fact -- along with the group's unusual two-acoustic-guitarists/two-drummers lineup -- might lead you to believe...

By Jason Heller

March 17, 2005

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Januar hasn't played many shows in its three-year existence, but the quartet has a good reason: Drummer Katie Aiken spends more time in far-flung locales like Pennsylvania and Iceland than she does in Denver. That fact -- along with the group's unusual two-acoustic-guitarists/two-drummers lineup -- might lead you to believe that there's something sonically lacking. But Januar's new five-song EP, The Fall (whose release will be commemorated Friday, March 18, at the Larimer Lounge, in a show with CAT-A-TAC), sounds empty in all the right ways. Etched with melancholy and an understated, pulse-like percussion, tracks like "Heaven's Gate" and "Fool's Gold" hum with hypnotic open chords and the airy harmonies of spouses Jeremy and Amy Burbick. And although the disc's sweetness occasionally crosses into the realm of cloying, it's tempered by a humble earnestness that captivates -- that is, when it's not stealing breath.

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