THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Days (Cadmean Dawn) — Mountain Goats albums don’t repeat, but they often rhyme. Nearly a decade after the splendid semi–concept album Goths (but then, aren’t most Mountain Goats studio full-lengths semi–concept albums?), John Darnielle puts himself into a similar creative headspace for Days. Rather than nineteen-eighties running mascara, he looked to the well-worn flannel of the time around a decade later when grunge was fading into its dusky obsolescence. Backed strongly by longstanding Mountain Goats Jon Wurster on drums and Matt Douglas on just about everything else, Darnielle belts out the proper rock epic “Candlebox” and the rich ballad “Woodstock ’99.” On “Song for Layne Staley,” the band builds from acoustic keening to muddy electric guitars, reasonably approximating the full range of Alice in Chains. Darnielle’s lyrics remain impeccable, whether he’s rendering the comic saga of a drugged-out movie star alarmed by a foreign horror film (“Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds”) or cataloging the small, overlooked pleasures of life on the smooth and propulsive title cut (“Prizefighters when they’re still in their prime/ Russian novels when you find the time/ Cats sleeping in a patch of sun/ Go buy candy and a currant bun”). On the album-opening tune about Staley, Darnielle sings, “I was on the prowl/ For something good to do/ Started up a rock band/ Wouldn’t you?” Darnielle and company know the answer to that question. Remember these Days cuts all your life: “Crying on Eddie Nash’s Grave,” “Going to Fennario,” and “The Last Day.”

ZZZAHARA Distant Lands (Lex) — There’s heady stuff going on in Distant Lands, the fourth album Los Angeles music-maker Zahara Jaime has delivered as Zzzahara. They’ve said the album sprung from their own experiments with using various substances to catalyze their dreaming. It’s no surprise, then, that a decent number of the songs exist in a hazy zone. “Wandering Eyes” has a drowsy lilt, and “Chinese Tobacco” sounds like Cocteau Twins played on too slow of a speed. Even the guests are chosen to contribute to the vibe, as when the Boston band Winter joins in on “I Can Be Yours” and adds some dreaminess to the Sebadoh-like shuffle of the song. Zzzahara occasionally gets a little noisier on the album. “She Doesn’t Want Me to Exist” starts in a soothing swirl only to go explosive and expansive in the end, and “My Little Dove” is the sound of sunshine pop coming through a busted speaker. Regardless, the material is generally strong enough that no one should be in a rush to wake up from it. Go the distance with these cuts: “Whispering Tree,” “Butterflies,” and “Andy’s Got a Gun.”

MARGARET GLASPY I Am Both (ATO) — Following a few albums that found Margaret Glaspy exploring what her songs would sound like after some studio polish, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriters goes back to the basics on her latest full-length, I Am Both. Produced by Joe Henry, the album unfolds like a set at a cool coffee bar, like Glaspy is perched on a stool in the corner pouring out her feelings and concerns. On occasion, that means songwriting that is pointedly direct, as on “Martin Luther King Jr.”: “In America/ The Land of the free/ With steep poverty/ It turns out freedom ain’t free.” More often, Glaspy finds her way with tunes that are contemplative and exploratory. Standout track “Michigan” ties together the influences of any number of predecessors and contemporaries, from Michelle Shocked to Laura Marling. She flirts with the styling of Ani Difranco on “Reminder” (“Hope can only get me so far/ I also have to be willing to catch a few scars”) and is downright Dylan-esque on “Common Ground.” Much as she adheres to well-worn folk elements, Glaspy still fleshes out the material to ensure it’s warm and inviting; “I Thought She Was a Song” couples spoken word recollections to a romantic melody that could make Paul Simon envious. Opting for a sparer approach, Glaspy has made her best album since the breakthrough Emotions and Math. In addition those already mentioned, check the following tracks: “Petty,” “James and Marie,” “Sharp Knife,” and the title cut.