There is some relief from the heartache as the birth of his son also occurred since Gray had released his previous album. It possesses much the same tone as White Ladder, being simultaneously celebratory and troubled. "Caroline", the opening track starts with its rattling percussion and quasi-Celtic pedal steel guitar, while "Long Distance Call", mixing an orchestra with electronic effects, is an interesting collage of sounds. It's with "Freedom", that Gray returns to his trademark big piano sound combined with the painful vocals. This leads to the livlier "Kangaroo" and "Last Boat to America", both yearning and teeming with striking lyrical images. Then it really takes off, with the Stones-y rock groove of "Real Love" and the gospel feel of "Knowhere". One of the more popular and upbeat songs on the albuml is the quite brilliant unrequited love song "Be Mine". This is closely followed by a return to the sparse and crushing closer "The Other Side". The final track is rated by David Gray as one of his finest vocal performances. Accompanied by only a grand piano he shows to great effect the power of his vocals when stripped down to the basics.

The album is looser than White Ladder and uses less electronic effects. Its darker deeper introspection was not particularly liked by many fans, but due to marketing and promotional reasons mainly, Gray continued to build a growing number of fans in the USA. He also decided to go on a worldwide tour for the first time in promotion of the album - and played in Europe, America and as far away as Australia.