"[6] Wood, the lead vocalist, announced his departure from the band on 31 January 2022 due to mental health reasons, four days before the album's release date.

Drummer Charlie Wayne noted: "The first time I heard ideas for "Concorde" or "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade" was when I came over to hang out in their kitchen and we got this little drum kit set up.

In comparison to For the First Time, which was apathetic and dealt with fictional scenarios, Hyde and Wayne said Ants from Up There features more vulnerable lyrical topics.

"Snow Globes" was performed as early as January 2020, a notable example being a 2020 Christmas livestream concert with Black Midi, with the band adding new elements to each successive live performance similar to rapper Kanye West's alterations to previously recorded studio material; the band also took inspiration from Frank Ocean's song "White Ferrari".

[12][13] It was one of the first songs the band wrote and predates For the First Time, originally describing an unhealthy obsession with British singer Charli XCX in its earliest form before undergoing significant lyrical changes for the final version.

The former ended up on the album in the form of its first take in studio, while the recording process of the latter took considerable time due to a technical error on Wayne's part.

[5] Ants from Up There was announced on 12 October 2021 alongside the release of the album's first single, "Chaos Space Marine", which Wood described as "the best song [they have] ever written".

The song's style and instrumentation were inspired by Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, wherein the band were to play without definitive timing and cues.

[33] NME gave the album five stars out of five, proclaiming that the band managed "to pivot towards more familiar, accessible sounds and embrace traditional song structures – without sacrificing an ounce of their musical wizardry or inventiveness", declaring it "truly remarkable" and a "future cult classic" in the wake of Wood's departure.

[27] The Independent, in a five stars out of five review, declared that "the sheer grace and ambition of Ants... will prove tough for 2022 to top", citing the "grunge rock crescendos accompanying images of burning starships on 'Good Will Hunting', and gargantuan arias on the 12-minute 'Basketball Shoes'" as track highlights.

[26] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork praised the album's "life-affirming", emo-like sentimentality in a review awarded Best New Music; he stated that by "manifesting every glimmer of hope as a heaven-sent beacon and every letdown as a plunge towards the void," the band captured the essence of "adjacent masterpieces like [Neutral Milk Hotel's] In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, [Titus Andronicus's] The Monitor, and [Car Seat Headrest's] Teens of Denial" en route to Ants' "beautifully doomed fantasies.

Jamie Kilkenny of Clash noted that "[t]he angle of [Ants'] lyrical riches grows ever more sentimental and singular" over repeated listens, and that "only Wood could wring so much profundity from a pleading wail to "show me the place where he inserted the blade"; or the beauty wrapped in the seemingly mundane "particles of bread" on the marvel of 'Bread Song.

'"[25] The Line of Best Fit's Kyle Kohner gave the album a perfect score, praising Wood as a "clairvoyant" author of "witty, abstract storytelling" on Ants and remarking upon his position as "the wry mouthpiece of a band... keenly speaking to a generation of young people.

"[9] Tom Morgan of PopMatters applauded the band's "bold and progressive" compositions, but particularly distinguished Wood's lyrics as "unique and often profound," hailing his "deft, resonant words" for their "contemporary relevance" in contrast to those of his indie coevals.

[30] Critics also singled out closing track "Basketball Shoes" for praise, hailing the song's "astonishing" scope[27] and "devastating, yet cleansing" emotional impact.

[8] All tracks are written by Charlie Wayne, Georgia Ellery, Isaac Wood, Lewis Evans, Luke Mark, May Kershaw, and Tyler Hyde.Adapted from vinyl liner notes and Uncut.