Dan Bejar - center - didn’t go soft at the Black Cat, Tuesday. (All photos by Josh Sisk/FTWP)Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Bejar, who fronts the ever-mutating Destroyer, wowed the blognoscenti by drawing on soft rock and lite jazz for “Kaputt,’’ the group’s new album. But Destroyer didn’t sound soft or lite Tuesday night, performing at a crowded Black Cat. The octet’s music cultivated a loungey vibe, yet was punctuated by saxophone wails, guitar screeches and synthesizer rasps.

Such contrasts were not unexpected. While “Kaputt’’ has its Steely Dan and Gerry Rafferty moments, such songs as “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker’’ feature controversial themes and harsh electronics. Besides, the album’s gentler passages aren’t really suited to a rock club. If the other musicians had taken it too easy, they would have been have overwhelmed by the drummer — and the chattier members of the audience.

Instead, the group beefed up the new material — the 70-minute set included all but one “Kaputt’’ song — and flirted with outright rock on the three older numbers. “It’s Gonna Take an Airplane’’ was the evening’s most guitar-oriented tune, and in its live incarnation the central riff clearly echoed “All Along the Watchtower.’’ Sax or trumpet claimed the majority of the solos, but the bass, keyboards and two guitars all asserted themselves at times.

The one band member who consistently held back was Bejar himself. The musician, (also a member of the New Pornographers), offered his lyrics in a sort of disinterested hipster croon, and did little to engage his fans. He spoke only a few words between songs, and sometimes disappeared when not singing. He turned his back to the crowd or sank from view altogether, and cloaked his face behind a lyric sheet during “3,000 Flowers’’ and “Bay of Pigs.’’ On stage, Destroyer’s meandering, jazzy material needs a visual focus, but the singer seemed determined not to provide it. If there were people in the club that hadn’t already taken Destroyer to heart, this performance probably didn’t convert them.