When The Rapture hit the scene in 2002 their percussion-heavy funked up dance sound was a shot in the arm to the indie world. The DFA produced 'Echoes' was a fashionistas' favourite and the single 'House of Jealous Lovers' gave trendy DJs across the country a rocking dance track to stir any dancefloor.

Now four years later with Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and a glut of other crunchy guitar groups referencing house music the American four-piece are back with a new album ('Pieces of the People we Love') and an evolved sound.

When I speak to lead singer and guitarist Luke Jenner on the line from Brooklyn he's holding his two-month-old son "starting to figure it all out." After The Rapture's debut came out, it's widely acknowledged that Luke's depression and control freakery caused problems in the band and that touring was a pretty hellish experience. "Struggling to be happy is like the theme of my life," he told me.

However in 2006 the new father seems content and willing to admit previous mistakes. Where he used to give one-word answers in interviews Luke is now astonishingly frank.

"After 'Echoes' I was ill, I missed my wife and I was a really miserable bastard. I was a sad piece of crap and that was something I wanted to change with this record," Luke explained. "We took so long (with 'Pieces of ...') because we didn't want a bunch of songs about being on the road and being miserable."

Though 'Echoes' was critically acclaimed it didn't sell as well as the band hoped and it felt like as much the work of producer du jour James Murphy (DFA/LCD Soundsystem) as The Rapture. "A lot of 'Echoes' was made out of arguing," he says "My whole thing was that I thought I could have done a better job on drums or production for example. This time I felt a responsibility to mind my own fucking business and worry about what I was doing."

Luke grew up in San Diego with drummer Vito (Roccoforte, drums) getting into indie and joining bands after being inspired by Nirvana and Rocket from the Crypt. When they moved to New York they met Mattie (Safer, bass and vocals) and Gabriel (Andruzzi), who has only just joined the band proper. Though he played 'Echoes' live, 'Pieces of the People we Love' is the first time Gabe recorded with The Rapture playing "everything" including the sax solo on cracking recent single 'Get Myself into it' and (predictably) "a bank of cowbells."

After the stress of touring their debut and problems in the group they took an "essential" year off. "British bands go way too fucking fast, there’s a real sense that the NME won't like you if you don't put an album out every week," Luke explains.

When starting what could have been the "difficult second album" they hooked up with a familiar face from more turbulent times. Brit Paul Epworth had been the group's first sound engineer and while the band had been away he'd become a successful producer with The Rakes, The Futureheads and Bloc Party. For house-heads out there he's also behind the Phones' remixes gracing your vinyl.

Despite meeting "lots of big time producers," the band chose Epworth and Ewan Pearson (house producer and remixer for The Chemical Brothers) to co-produce most of the record. "I don't care how good you are I want you to say 'I want to work with your band' and Paul and Ewan were just so excited to work on the record," says Luke.

Another enthusiastic knob-twiddler was Dangermouse (Brian Burton) who had just finished Gorillaz' 'Demon Days' and was working on his Gnarls Barkley record ("He played us 'Crazy' and we were like 'Holy crap this is good'). The innovative producer made five tracks with The Rapture, two of which, including the slow burning Primal Scream-like 'Calling Me', feature on the LP.

One of the best tracks on 'Pieces of the People we Love' is the Mattie sung 'WAYUH', likely to be the second UK single. It's a magnificent pop song with cowbells a-plenty and brilliant shout-along lyrics from the bassist who only sang on one track of the group's debut. This time around Matt is the main vocalist on five of the ten tracks. Luke explained - "We all just picked the songs we liked and the ones that suited the record. It works out nicely that it's split evenly, this band is a democracy."

Elsewhere 'Don Gon Do It' is a funk workout with layered vocals inspired by meeting Timbaland (Missy Elliot, Aaliyah, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake) at his studios where he was mixing a track by r&b diva Brandy. It's clear from the new album that The Rapture's influences are far and wide. "We listen to everything. Vito is really into the new Christina Aguilera track. We are just filters for what we are into."

While The Beatles are channelled on psychedelic final track 'Live in Sunshine', 'The Devil' was inspired by Daft Punk and it's clear The Rapture are heavily influenced by house music. "We see ourselves as the next logical step in the history of dance music. From Marshall Jefferson through Madchester, 'Blue Monday', 'Screamadelica', acid house and Daft Punk," Luke explains. He also has a dig at recent rock groups who get dance remixes to improve their credibility: "What makes us different from other indie bands is that our tracks aren't remixes. Being into dance music is who we are."

An obvious stand out track is 'The Sound' which is both Notion's and Luke's favourite. It blends tight guitars, breakneck drumming and synthesiser trickery like The Prodigy, Stone Roses and Josh Wink on one anarchic stage. "It sounds like us live, capturing that energy. We were fucking sick of hearing how good we were live, there's more of a balance now."

The Rapture are one of the best live acts around with an incredible energy and crisp sound and they're heading for a eight date tour of the UK this October. "The moment you hit the stage is such a high, I go bananas if I don't have it in my life," Luke explains in his laidback west coast accent. "We spend our time trying to move the crowd because that's part of dance music culture."

The guitarist in particular is also looking forward to hitting this side of the Atlantic: "My mum was born in Bristol so one of my earliest memories is of Aero candy bars. The only reason I don't work in a bar is because the UK paid attention to the band first."

Fans coming to the shows can still expect to hear the colossal 'House of Jealous Lovers.' "I look forward to playing that track live. Its piss poor when bands don't play their big songs. Like how Radiohead won't play 'Creep'," says Luke.

The Rapture see themselves as a party band "like the B52's or Beastie Boys." The title of the new record also explains a lot about the band and gives something of a mission statement. "Pieces of the People we Love' comes from one of Matt's songs. He says it's like a really good night out where you see all of your friends and it's just really important in your life."

Lynchpin of the band Luke now seems newly at ease: "With this record I did my best and I'm really happy with it." So The Rapture can now get back to their day job - being a party band filtering music from all genres and throwing it back out to the crowd as funky-hipindie- electro-rock (I think that just about sums it up).

THE ALBUM ‘PIECES OF THE PEOPLE WE LOVE’ IS RELEASED ON VERTIGO ON SEPTEMBER 4TH.