The group that formed The Cave Singers back in 2007 was not unlikely. Coming off the disbandment of Pretty Girls Make Graves, guitarist Derek Fudesco hooked up with vocalist Pete Quirk who was ending his tenure with Hint Hint. They recruited Marty Lund from the lesser-known Cobra High to provide drums, and the three art-punkers set out to make a band. The music that they actually began churning out, however, was very unlikely. The Matador released debut album Invitation Songs (2006) was a sparse and serene alt-country burner with an occasional barnyard hoedown thrown in. It was a strong and solid offering that propelled them out of the shadow of their former bands. Unfortunately their follow-up Welcome Joy (2009) took the sparse beauty and drudged it down. The songs were monotonous and almost undistinguishable. After that album, the band needed to cleanse its palate.

On No Witch, The Cave Singers are revitalized and more adventurous. This is their most amped up outing to date showing the ability to progress their sound while also finding time to recapture the past magic. Making the jump over to Jagjaguwar, it’s another rebirth of sorts for three fellows who are now bringing their veteran knowledge to this budding band.

Several moments on the album show The Cave Singers tapping into their former identities, reminding us that its members originated from much louder bands. While not going all-out punk, they do crank it up enough to break out of quiet folkster territory to become southern rock thrashers. “Black Leaf” features Quirk’s marbled mouth drawl droning out subdued lines before yelling out the chorus with a vicious guitar chord swaying in the background. Roadhouse jam “Haystacks” features an impressive vocal arrangement as Quirk gets a choir assist and then pulls duty with a harmonica. Psychedelica laces the opening of the track “Faze Wave” before bringing on the boogie down.

Littered into the mix are several songs that feature their more traditional slow cooker mode of acoustic guitar and layer harmonies. It all begins with “Gifts and the Raft,” a song that wouldn’t be out of place on any back porch on a quiet night in the country. And while some of the down tempo tracks aren’t as exciting as their rock heavy counterparts, the simplicity of them can show each member at their best: Quirk’s gravel melodies, Fudesco’s fluttering guitar, and Lund’s grassroots percussion.

No Witch ends opposite of the way it began. “No Prosecution If We Bail” is a massive rumpus, closing out on such a thunderous note that you forget that this band barely got above a whisper on their past albums. But they are no strangers to noise. The Cave Singers have found that you can always go home, and sometimes that is exactly what is needed to progress forward. They may have started as an unlikely folk trio, but as they push the boundaries of what they can do in the genre, it’s starting to make much more sense.