When you write lyrics such as “We ate all of the oranges off the navels of our lovers”, and you have a sound that refuses to sit too comfortably between Talking Heads, Pixies and a host of 21st-century alt.rockers, you need someone smart on your mixing desk to get all that down on record.

On their new album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, the Oregon band Modest Mouse have evolved to a point where this complex mixture of styles and mood has become an eloquent expression of raw emotions. At the Albert Hall, sadly, with a mushy sound system, the eloquence too often disappeared. Still, the singer Isaac Brock’s passion drove them on, and those fans who knew the words filled the gaps between noise and meaning for themselves.

As well as successfully crossing over from years on the indie fringes to some considerable success on a major label, Modest Mouse have been noteworthy recently for adding the guitarist Johnny Marr to their ranks. It’s one of only a handful of full-time posts he’s filled since leaving the Smiths two decades ago, and he proves to be an enthusiastic new sidekick to Brock’s intense lead role.

Marr claims to be enjoying this fresh sound, an ocean away from the mannered confines of current British bands, and brings expanded brighter moments to the band – a sparkling strum here, a funky riff there.

Onstage, he got stuck into the head-nodding rock as the band’s two drummers rat-a-tat-tatted through older favourites such as Float On, while the intro to their single Dashboard sounded reminiscent of Getting Away With It, a hit for another of Marr’s bands, Electronic.

Just as Brock’s surreal and doomed sentiments often run riot across his lyrics, Modest Mouse played havoc with the pace. Two drummers, two guitarists and an array of trumpets and accordions would all collide for an extended climax, then fall away for some banter from Brock, before another six minutes of troubled rock cranked up again.

Occasionally, the warmth of the band’s more laid-back melodics filled the air. Fire it Up, from the new album, was a case in point, though the singer was still tempted to bark half his lines.

Even before the encore, Brock was throwing himself around the stage. Eventually a couple of fans, who had clearly forgotten the Albert Hall’s regal setting, attempted a spot of crowd-surfing. Their clash with security drew some flashes of frustration from Brock, which suggests that, even if Marr has mellowed Modest Mouse a touch, they still have the least appropriate name in rock.

Tour details: ABC, Glasgow, tomorrow; Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, Sun; Rock City, Nottingham, Mon; Ritz Ballroom, Manchester, Tues

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