Jana Horn + Support

From the first line on Jana Horn’s eponymous third album, “nothing prepares you for this, or is a cure,” the tone is set for a record that is enunciated as it is open. Akin to the desert landscape where it was recorded-Sonic Ranch, in west Texas-the work’s dry production and use of silence, ringing guitar and discordant flute, has a vitality calling back to early Cat Power/Moon Pix.

Recorded essentially as a trio with Adam Jones and Jade Guterman-how the New York-based band performs-this ten-song album has Horn’s spoken-sung, stark vocals in useful conflict with the melodic, earworm quality of Guterman’s bass, and Jones’ jazz and punk-influenced approach to drums. The flute and clarinet of Adelyn Strei diverges and coalesces, spirit-like (“Go on, move your body,” “Untitled (Cig)”), while pianist Miles Hewitt grounds, sometimes with a single note repeated, like a hammer on a nail (“All in bet”). This third iteration from Horn reveals the artist at perhaps her most distilled and resourceful, hitting on a feeling with a touch