The Back Room

The band signed to Kitchenware in late 2004, a label that had just been revived, after months of playing three or four showcases a week for interested labels. They took a five-week break from touring to make the album, which Tom Smith said took around three and a half weeks. Most of it was recorded at The Chapel in Lincolnshire with Jim Abbiss. Munich was recorded at Mayfair Studios in London, and Bullets at The Magic Garden in Wolverhampton with Gavin Monaghan. Cenzo Townshend mixed both of those songs at Olympic Studios. All four members are credited as writers on every song.

Smith took the title from a line in Camera, which he called the centre piece of the record. He said death, love and loss recur on it but he kept the meanings open. Critics set the band beside Echo & the Bunnymen, Interpol and Elbow, and Urbanowicz said the songs were written before they had properly listened to those bands. Jason Crock at Pitchfork heard Smith sing in a forceful but wavering voice, while Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard praised him for sounding suave and pained at once.

Four singles came from it: Bullets, Munich, Blood and All Sparks. Bullets and Munich were re-released after the album, and Munich climbed from 22 to 10 in January 2006, which lifted the album to number two and to platinum status. The album entered the UK chart at 13 with 17,627 sales in its first week. It reached 14 on the US Heatseekers chart after its American release in March 2006, and was gold in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. It was shortlisted for the 2006 Mercury Prize.