The first Modest Mouse record I ever heard was “Good News for People Who Love Bad News” when I was in high school. My English teacher walked into the room while it was being played and asked what it was. When he heard that it was Modest Mouse, he responded that he remembered when Modest Mouse was “less poppy.” But his face betrayed him; his look seemed to say, “And I remember when they didn’t suck.”

Of course, “Good News for People Who Love Bad News” was, and still is, a very decent album. But, in retrospect, Good News certainly can’t be compared to some of Modest Mouse’s previous albums, such as “The Lonesome Crowded West” or “The Moon and Antarctica.” Like “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” Modest Mouse’s most recent release, “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank,” is a relatively solid album, but it’s not nearly as good as Modest Mouse’s classic releases.

The album starts off with the gentle accordion of “March Into the Sea” and then explodes into lead singer Isaac Brock’s guitar and angry shouting vocals. Combined with drummer Jeremiah Green’s sharp percussion, this part of the song is the angriest and harshest Modest Mouse has been for a long time. But all at once, the anger falls like a receding tide, and the song changes into a gentle stream of melodic guitar and xylophone, with the rest of the track continuing this alternation between harsh and gentle.

In many ways, “March Into the Sea” foreshadows the rest of the album, which alternates between the infectious pop of “Good News For People Who Love Bad News” and the angry, pessimistic rock of “The Lonesome Crowded West.” For every raucous rock track, there’s a languishing, poppy song like “Dashboard,” the album’s second track and one of its finest.

“Dashboard,” which was released two months before the album, works well both as a single and as an integrated part of the record. The song celebrates life, despite its crashes: “The dashboard melted, but we still have the radio... it would’ve been, could’ve been worse than you would ever know.” The song, with its catchy chorus and slick percussion, lacks the substance of other Modest Mouse songs but is undoubtedly a very good track.

In contrast to “Dashboard,” two of the album’s better songs, “Parting of the Sensory” and “Fly Trapped in a Jar” are far from pop. Both are full of powerful drums and thunderous guitar. Further accentuating the differences between “Dashboard,” these two dark songs feature Brock’s vocals, which sound more like shouting than singing.

But right after the sober “Parting of the Sensory” and “Fly Trapped in a Jar” are the melodic “Missed the Boat” and “Little Motel.” These songs provide a relief from Brock’s shouting and demonstrate the mature Modest Mouse’s musical range. Because of their calm, melodic nature, these two tracks show how far Modest Mouse has matured from its roots.

Of course, in moving in this new direction, it helps to have The Shins’ James Mercer, who sings backup on “Florida,” “Missed the Boat,” and “We’ve Got Everything.” Granted, Modest Mouse is starkly different from The Shins, but that’s the point: Modest Mouse has changed so much that comparing The Shins to Modest Mouse is no longer unthinkable.

Modest Mouse’s older fans may complain that this album strays too far from Modest Mouse’s roots, but, in fact, the opposite is true: Modest Mouse has done a perfect job of balancing its rock roots and its more recent pop direction. “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” features catchy hooks that explain why it’s now number one on the Billboard charts, but it also has brilliant old-school rock songs that even my former English teacher would love. Grade: B+