Taking a step away from the impassioned, acoustic crooning of previous albums, Dashboard Confessional returns with the upbeat but uneven “A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar.”

While Chris Carrabba, and his band Dashboard Confessional, is often pegged as sorrowful, morose and pained in both delivery and lyrical content, “Mark” pumps up Carrabba’s emo-inflected sensibility with the aid of a full band alongside a healthy dose of happiness.

To say “Mark” is Dashboard’s peppiest record to date is a drastic understatement. Songs like “Hands Down” and “I am Missing” contribute moments of levity to Carrabba’s typical melancholy mood. Adding to this is a variety in inspiration often missing in Dashboard’s arsenal.

This isn’t to say, however, that “Mark” is a great step forward for the band. Where Carrabba’s lyrics could once sit center stage in his arrangements, added guitar and bass now stride alongside the singer’s whisper-to-a-scream bipolarity.

Coming off more like a watered-down version of Carrabba’s previous outfit, Further Seems Forever, “Mark” downplays Carrabba’s usual vocal intensity by filling musical gaps with a rhythm section and a second guitarist relegated to adding harmony and ambiance rather than complementing lyrical content or tone of the material.

Tracks like “Hey Girl” and “So Beautiful” are exceptions to this, as the band finally begins firing on all cylinders near the end of the record. As arrangements become more sparse, vocal and musical elements stop battling one another and actually meld as the band hits its stride.

Making a bona fide rock record may be far off for Dashboard Confessional at this point, but shades of Further Seems Forever and Carrabba’s solo material occasionally manage to shine above the din. “Ghost of a Good Thing” may prove the greatest example of this as Carrabba returns to a largely acoustic arrangement with other instruments taking a back seat to his voice.

As a whole, “A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar” may not live up to Further Seems Forever’s seminal “The Moon is Down,” but it appears Dashboard may be poised to bridge the singer/songwriter/band gap with subsequent albums and a positive attitude.