Over the course of four increasingly assured albums, New Jersey’s now-defunct Cymbals Eat Guitars embedded stories of confusion and dread within swarming guitars, shadowy vocals, and crystal-clear melodies. Empty Country, the solo project of Cymbals guitarist-vocalist Joseph D’Agostino, is just as anxious as his previous work, but this time around, Agostino’s troubled tales are funneled through crisp acoustic arrangements; think DSM-5 meets Led Zeppelin III. “I say awful things/’Cause it makes you smile,” he sings on “Diamond,” a deceptively rollicking number with gorgeous pedal steel guitar and a dark denouement. Then there’s “Becca,” a lovingly put-together ditty—complete with strings and whistles—about a troubled woman who sells fake glasses during an eclipse, knowingly blinding her customers.