This is the band's first release with Chris Cayford and Nathan Fairweather in their line-up after the departure of Joseph Thorpe and Joe Nicholson.

The album was recorded in various locations across Nottingham, United Kingdom including James Spence's house and The Bodega club night venue.

[4] The band replaced both with Chris Cayford, who is the current frontman and former guitarist of No Coast, and Nathan Fairweather, who plays in Brontide,[3] making this the first release with the new line-up.

[5] Another possibility is ASTRAEA, (Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment) an acronym for the development of British unmanned aerial vehicle.

[8] Around this time as well, Rolo Tomassi expressed interest in working with Anthony Gonzalez or Kurt Ballou respectively of M83 and Converge as producers for the third album.

[12] In the writing of previous albums by Rolo Tomassi a majority of the music was written by James and Eva Spence wrote most of the lyrics.

[13] In January 2012, in an interview with Kerrang!, Eva Spence confirmed that the band are self-producing their third full-length with Hysterics producer Jason Sanderson.

[13] As the band wrote Astraea they decided to contrast with their typical style more with the clean and ethereal parts, which led to an increase of Eva's singing.

[16][22] This is displayed in the theoretical complexity of their music, such as odd time signatures like 9/13,[23] polyrhythmic drumming[7] and use of dynamics, akin to bands such as Converge, Radiohead and Sigur Rós.

[26] Eva has been seen as pushing her vocals "further than ever before, displaying extremity, contrasted with canorous beauty",[25] with her singing voice being compared to the dream pop stylings of Grimes and Cocteau Twins.

[18] ‘Ex Luna Scientia’, the opening single for the album is seen as a more expansive and more melodic song in comparison to their previous work, placing emphasis on Eva Spence's singing rather than her trademark 'guttural' style.

[5] Rock Sound reviewer Oliver Robertson used the song as an example for the sonic development of the album as it is "more focused on making each element stand out now, rather than creating simply a cacophony of noise.

[18] 'Gloam', specifically the last half of the song, showcases a "battle between melodic keyboard[s] and screamed vocals with a real sense of urgency and threat.

[24] The album closes with 'Illuminare', a song which Metal Hammer reviewer Merlin Alderslade cites as showing Radiohead and Sigur Rós influences.

[24] Lyrically, Eva Spence credited on how the Astraea was a lot more positive than their previous material due to having time off between tours and being able to relax in the writing process.

I'm seeing things in a positive light and I hope the lyrics will be more uplifting"[14] In an interview with James Spence about the early writing process and how the lyrics have an essence of self-reflection as a common theme in the band's work, "it's not something people normally look at or focus on; self-reflection as a theme, but if you ignore what's happening to you and how it's making you think about things then I don't think that's good.

[28] The band announced a few days after releasing "Old Mystics" for streaming that it will most likely not appear on the new album and will just be a stand-alone single[3] as they felt the two songs did not fit onto Astraea.

[31] Rolo Tomassi's presence on the tour was met with positive reception; however, reviewers believed the band's music was too aggressive and chaotic for fans of Architects.

[32] Tim Sewell when writing for The Courier Online said that: "it was apparent that much of the crowd (mostly Architects fans) were left a little confused by singer/shewolf Eva Spence, who flung herself about in front of them screaming.

[30] On 16 August 2012, the band issued both the track listing for the album its title, Astraea and unveiled its British release date as 5 November.

[11] Rolo Tomassi's decision of making the shows of the tour only cost five-pound was questioned by interviewer Samantha Booth when writing for The National Student, James replied saying it was for the sake of encouraging people to come see them and because of the high prices of concert tickets.

[35] In September and October, starting just three days after their Japanese performances Rolo Tomassi completed 13 date tour of Australia with Australian bands Totally Unicorn and Stockades.

[24] John Doran of online magazine The Quietus gave the album a glowing review expecting it to appear in his publicationsend of year lists, describing it in summary as a triumph: "Rolo Tomassi are miles ahead of the game not just because they are constantly trying to break new ground but also because they have entered a nuclear arms race of progressiveness with their own back catalogue.