Last year, the pop duo Aly & AJ, sisters Alyson "Aly" and Amanda "AJ" Michalk, returned after a 10-year hiatus with the EP Ten Years, an album of introspective tunes laden with ’80s-inspired synthesizers. Album opener “Take Me” features rattling drum machine beats and falsetto vocals and sounds like Like a Virgin-era Madonna. “The Distance,” another album highlight, is a breakup tune that nicely mirrors “Potential Break-Up Song,” the band’s big hit from 2007. The duo returns to town tonight in support of Sanctuary, a new five-song “examination of time and soul searching.” The mid-tempo album opener, “Church,” features falsetto vocals and shimmering synths, and the anthemic “Star Maps” sounds like a pop track from the ’80s. The songs are even more synth-based than the ones on Ten Years and should translate well when the group plays them live. (Niesel)