After a couple of years of speculation about the future of Indiana post-rock collective Early Day Miners, frontman and mainstay Daniel Burton has brought the band back to life as EDM, releasing new record Night People on their original label Western Vinyl.

The band’s name isn’t the only thing that’s been abbreviated; EDM circa 2011 is a very different beast to the Early Day Miners of 2000. The band might have made its last name with hushed vocals and eight-minute acoustic slow-burns, but Night People sees Burton tighten the screws on his song structure to craft his most immediate set to date.

To be fair, the turnaround can’t entirely be attributed to a snappy name change – neat as that would be. The inclusion of pop sensibilities into the EDM sound is a process that began with 2009′s The Treatment. But Night People does this so much better. While The Treatment lost a lot of its potency by sounding torn between two distinct styles, on Night People EDM throw themselves into their stripped-down tracks with much more conviction.

Opener ‘Hold Me Down’ swings from a plaintive guitar line into a beefy mid-tempo number, Burton’s wounded vocals echoing over riffs that, while not wildly inventive, pop and fizz in all the right places. This sense of urgency rears its head throughout the album, especially in the insistent, loping bassline on ‘Video/Stereo’ (not to mention Burton’s menacing refrain “I hear voices on the stereo / I see faces on the video”).

Burton’s lyrics have also undergone something of an overhaul, turning their attention from the cold beauty of the night sky to the grit and dirt of the lonely people living their lives beneath them. His finest moment with the “night people” of the album’s title comes on the album’s best track ‘Temple Bar’, which finds Burton sparring with regular vocal partner Kate Long as a down-and-out couple juggling optimism with mistrust. “You’re safe with me, my word is true,” begs Burton. “I wouldn’t mislead you.” The only reply he gets is a weary “I couldn’t believe you.” It’s a quietly devastating track, one that proves EDM’s new strength lies in mixing post-rock theatrics with elements of earthy, earnest Americana, like Patterson Hood or Springsteen taking the reins of Explosions in the Sky.

It still feels like EDM have a little way to go before they get their blend exactly right; a couple or tracks (‘Open Bar’, ‘Terrestrial Rooms’) are misjudged, bordering on featureless riffage. Nevertheless, there’s enough to grab hold of on Night People to convince you that EDM are on the right track. And if their best work is still ahead of them, that can only be a good thing.