The Cold War Kids stormed into the 9:30 Club on Saturday night to deliver cuts off their new album, Mine is Yours, to a sold-out crowd. The band made a name for themselves in L.A., plying the scene in Silverlake with an infectious blend of blues-meets-pop hooks and the urgency of lead singer Nathan Willett’s pipes. The band’s newer material builds on the radio-friendly success of “Something’s Not Right With Me,” mixing acutely literary references (e.g. name-checking Joan Didion) in tunes that continue to call out the darker, more angular crevasses of sun-bathed Southern California’s San Bernadino Valley.

However, it feels less rambunctious both live and on the album, than cuts from the band’s previous efforts, like 2007’s boozy breakthrough Robbers and Cowards. The group makes up for any ossification in their sound through a kinetic live show, especially bassist Matt Maust, who continually prowls the stage like a musician on a mission, wielding his bass like a tool of rhythmic wrath. The formerly bar-ready band seems ready to follow in the aspirational footsteps of southern-fried rockers Kings of Leon (Mine is Yours was helmed by KoL producer Jacquire King) and graduate to the glitz of arena-ready pop. Let’s just hope they don’t sell their swaggering souls along the way.