Return to the New Order World : After a four-year break, the influential British band is back with its just-released seventh album, ‘Republic.’

Where has New Order--one of the most influential British bands in contemporary rock--been the last four years?

“That seems to be the question of the day,” singer-guitarist Bernard Sumner says, referring to the Manchester group’s four-year absence from touring and recording.

“We’ve been together an awfully long time and it just got to the point where we needed a break,” he says during an interview at the Sunset Marquis Hotel, along with bassist Peter Hook.

“We just got through a tour of the States and it was a pretty tough emotional time. Also, we’re all self-taught musicians so we’ve learned a lot off each other. We needed to go out and work with other people to get fresh influences.”

One thing the group discovered during the break was a desire to use an outside producer, Stephen Hague, for the first time on their just-released seventh album, “Republic.”

“We’d all been apart doing our own projects during the break, so his presence kind of helped us pull back together again,” says Hook, 35. “He was more or less in charge and had a vision of how he wanted New Order to sound--very much like New Order.”

Measured against the edgy, dance-minded, experimental textures of previous New Order albums, “Republic” is a more relaxed affair. Sumner’s wobbly, low-key vocals now brood over more straight-forward beats and melodies.

“I think New Order have got their own sound,” explains Sumner, 35. “But what we like to do is experiment, using dance music and other things. Stephen didn’t encourage us to do that. He urged us to go back to our own sound, which wasn’t a bad idea for one album.”

It’s been 13 years since New Order rose out of the ashes of Joy Division, one of the most acclaimed underground bands ever in rock.

When Joy Division’s gloom-ridden leader Ian Curtis hanged himself in 1980, the group’s three surviving members went on to form New Order, which has legitimized dance music for rebellious punks formerly repulsed by disco’s shallow qualities.

The Manchester quartet, which also includes drummer Stephen Morris and post-Joy Division keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, created its own sound by melding moody, post-punk ambience with pulsing dance-floor technology.

Thanks to such memorable tunes as 1983’s “Blue Monday” and 1985’s “Perfect Kiss,” the group’s unorthodox style has been a fixture on alternative and dance charts.

Long before disco was enriched by hip-hop and techno/rave styles, New Order--which will be at the Hollywood Bowl on July 26 as part of its summer tour--gave the music soul by fusing the emotional rawness of Joy Division with vibrant, state-of-the-art beats.

“People associate us with dance because ‘Blue Monday’ was such a big hit,” Sumner says in his usual quiet tone. “But not every bit of our music is total dance.”

It’s an important point to him.

“If you’re driving around or at home with the stereo blasting pure dance track, it gets boring within about 15 minutes,” he continues. “It doesn’t work at home like it does in a nightclub. You’ve got no atmosphere. When you’re at home--and not particularly having a wild time--you need more substance out of the music.”

Sumner is humble about the group’s influence, which can be felt in such various bands as the Smiths, Happy Mondays and Jesus Jones.

“We have changed, but we haven’t dropped our past,” he says, again quietly. “We’ve just kept it with us so we can refer to it whenever we like. And, it seems to have worked so far.”