New Jagjaguwar signees channel alt-gods

The Cave Singers have explored a familiar career arc during their short stead in indie rock: a B-list band with a well-acclaimed debut (“Invitation Songs”) and a sophomore letdown (“Welcome Joy”) riding a wave of genre success (folk-pop) from a particular region (Seattle) that recently birthed a genre giant (Fleet Foxes).

But band members Pete Quirk, Derek Fudesco and Marty Lund’s backgrounds are not so easily mad-libbed. They hail from new wave, art punk and synth rock projects, the influences of which were barely audible on the meandering, vaguely folk recordings of before.

On “No Witch,” the band’s third LP and first since leaving Matador for Bloomington’s Jagjaguwar, the complete volume of the group’s combined dynamics finally fills the majority of the tracks. Feelings of loneliness and drugs anchor the darker instrumentations that infest “Witch”: floor toms on the edgier “Black Leaf,” violins dotting a barren acoustic landscape on “Distant Sures” and sheer punk viciousness on the concluding “No Prosecution if We Bail.”

Such backdrops are commonplace, but Cave Singers are at their best with rollicking little numbers like “All Land Crabs and Divinity Ghosts” or “Faze Wave” that find a place somewhere between lyrical folk traditions and rock-based guitar and percussion, with ’80s flair in the form of synth or organs.

The real star of the album is Pete Quirk, whose vocals range from gristly to near-pop, inspiring memories of everything from Collective Soul to Alex Ebert and elevating past the simplicity of basic folk-pop.