Death Cab for Cutie

“KINTSUGI”

Atlantic Records

Desertion — inseparable from its aftermath of recovery — haunts “Kintsugi,” the eighth album by Death Cab for Cutie. Titled after the Japanese art of mending cracked ceramics with precious metals, it’s a smartly shaped response to two recent disentanglements, at least one of which seems to have left a residue of trauma.

Death Cab for Cutie formed in 1997 as a melodic indie-rock band with a lineup featuring singer-songwriter Benjamin Gibbard, bassist Nick Harmer and guitarist Chris Walla. Walla announced his departure last year; this is the first proper Death Cab for Cutie album that he didn’t produce, but he stayed long enough to finish his parts.

The other development, less recent but apparently more disruptive, involves Gibbard’s divorce from Zooey Deschanel, star of the Fox sitcom “New Girl” and the indie-pop duo She & Him. Though the word “amicable” has been dutifully deployed, and Gibbard has bristled at those who mine his songs for the confessional, it’s hard to ignore the subtext of a song like “Ingénue,” in which he coolly disparages cuteness, bright colors and “the currency of being 23.”

But in terms of style, “Kintsugi” values continuity: Its sound suggests a reasonable next step for Death Cab. Less startling a departure than “Codes and Keys,” from 2011, it nevertheless holds on to some of those textures — and those of the Postal Service, Gibbard’s electropop side project — folding them into a comfortingly familiar fabric.

ON TOUR: July 8 — McMenamins Edgefield, Troutdale; SOLD OUT; www.mcmenamins.com. July 9 — Les Schwab Amphitheater, Bend; www.ticketfly.com.

— Nate Chinen,

New York Times

The Mountain Goats

“BEAT THE CHAMP”

Merge Records

By now the songwriter-singer-novelist-metal critic John Darnielle has written hundreds of songs. As The Mountain Goats, he’s issued dozens of albums, cassettes and 45s since he first started recording music on a boom box in the early 1990s. His latest, “Beat the Champ,” is a concept album, except instead of spinning odes to the deaf, dumb, blind pinballer of “Tommy,” the record’s overarching theme is the world of wrestling.

Specifically, Darnielle draws on the tumbling dramaticists of his youth, and does so through rhymed verses, oddly anthemic choruses and striking characterizations. Throughout, Darnielle switches perspectives, draws miniatures in rhymed couplets and moves through lines with gleeful precision.

Musically, the album’s equally daring, touching on meditative rock, Steely Dan-suggestive jazz tones, indie pop and tragic balladry.

Throughout “Beat the Champ,” Darnielle and his band exude confidence and a sense of purpose. It’s the writer standing on the top turnbuckle, gauging the reaction, pumping the crowd before leaping onto the lifeless bodies of his naysayers.

ON TOUR: May 30 — Wonder Ballroom, Portland; www.ticketfly.com.

—Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times