Talking with a friend about the new Jayhawks album, Mockingbird Time, we lamented that while it sounded good — and certainly like a Jayhawks record should — the songs weren’t memorable. It has surface appeal, but it lacked the depth that would make either of us pull it off the shelf after the newness wore off.

That conversation led me to give the album a few more spins, and I’ll admit that it is starting to grow on me. I don’t hear anything as soaring as “Waiting for the Sun,” as beautiful as “Ain’t No End” or as timeless as “Blue.” But what I do hear is a very good album that will continue to offer rewards. It sounds less like a comeback and more like a solid mid-period album from a band that has long since found its groove.

If you’ll indulge a bit of lyrical psychoanalysis, I’d argue that this is exactly what the band had in mind.

A mockingbird is known for its ability to sound like other birds. It can’t be a coincidence that this band, named for a bird, has named its comeback album Mockingbird Time. After flirting with glam rock and then breezy California pop, the band has returned to the sound that earned it fans in the first place: a mix of country harmonies and classic rock. This, then, is the band’s attempt to mimic the sound of its younger self.

To a point, that is. On the title track, Mark Olson sings, “Yesterday is gone like the wind, like the wind it is gone.” OK, so we may want the Jayhawks to recapture the magic of the Hollywood Town Hall era, but that time is past.  Olson goes on to sing, “I want to make something for you that brings you joy.” That’s easy enough. Just harmonize with Gary Louris and you’ll put a smile on our faces.

The song isn’t really about this, of course. At least not on the surface. He’s singing to a loved one, noting the “color in the sky that’s in your eyes,” remarking on the moment when “we see each other alone.” But the subtext can easily be read as a commentary on the band and this re-emergence.

On the bridge, Olson, the prodigal singer-songwriter, tackles his return to the fold head-on: “Mockingbird time, I’ve really gone back. You’re all that I have.” His wander into the desert, literally and figuratively, yielded some interest albums that I’ll never play again. It was time for him to return to what he does best, and where he does it best. Time to start sounding like a Jayhawk again, to go back. With his marriage to Victoria Williams now a memory, his solo career one long unsuccessful attempt to shed his past, that past is all that he has left.

The result is an album that caps a real return for Olson. His last two solo albums were the best things he did post-Jayhawks, and his duo album with Louris in 2008 showed the magic between the two musically remained. Now, with the rest of the band back in the fold, they have created something that feels like a Jayhawks record yet doesn’t sound like a natural progression. It is an earthier album, like something Louris and Olson would have helmed between Blue Earth and Hollywood Town Hall. It lacks the confident swagger of HTH and the polish of Tomorrow the Green Grass. It is a modest record. The band is no longer swinging for the fences, content to get on base with a single… without recording anything that comes close to being a single.

I interviewed Gary Louris from the Jayhawks for a story to preview his show with Mark Olson Thursday in Cedar Rapids. It was great to talk with someone who has made so much of my favorite music and learn more about the duo’s creative process, but the real treat was this bit of news: The Jayhawks’ major-label catalog will see the deluxe reissue treatment this year.

“It’s a good time to be a Jayhawks fan,” Louris said, mentioning that the reissues will include DVDs, bonus tracks and more, all through Sony Legacy. The project also will include a best-of, and extended DVD collection and a boxed set.

“I think the Jayhawks’ day is finally kind of arriving in terms of getting the attention it deserved,” he said.

As for the bonus tracks, he said “There’s a lot of stuff. The problem is being on the road and not being able to sort through it all.”

Asked if the band’s eponymous debut album might finally see release, he said “I’m going to say yes.” The album, called Bunkhouse by fans, has been rumored for release for years (as have, come to think of it, these reissues). It is owned by Lost Highway records, which issued the Jayhawks’ swan song, Rainy Day Music. Louris said the label seems to be “freaked out” about putting it out because its not sure it has the rights.

“It will come out, whether it’s next year or the year after that or…”

The prospect of live support for the reissue campaign is good. The Jayhawks lineup from 1994 (Tomorrow the Green Grass era: Louris, Olson, Tim O’Reagan, Marc Perleman and Karen Grotberg) reunited for a show in Spain last fall, and Louris hinted that another show and perhaps more are in the offing.

“We may do those occasionally, as basically a way to make money,” he said. “I don’t see anything else beyond that. Making records? I don’t see that happening. It’s too hard to make a living that way. I love music but I need to make a living. I don’t know if it’s financially viable to support five or six adults that way.”

That said, he fully expects to continue making music with Olson as a duo.

“This is just kind of our start,” he said. When asked if the duo would make future records, he replied, “Oh yeah.”