The album was released by Epic Records on 2 September 1997 in the US, and on 18 May 1998 in the UK and the rest of Europe, and spawned two singles for the band, "Tourniquet" and "Better Made".

The album's musical style showed a marked change from the hard rock/grunge of the band's earlier work towards a more personal, alternative rock sound (partly influenced by the death of the Glendinings' brother Matthew from leukaemia in 1994), which drew comparisons to Radiohead.

[6] AllMusic also noted the similarities to Radiohead but stated that the album "fortunately boasts enough strong individual material to prevent the record from being a mere acknowledgement of trendy influences... Too derivative for lofty praise or emphatic recommendation, Despite Yourself is an exquisite exercise in catharsis and musical tribute nonetheless.

"[1] NME was positive, calling Despite Yourself "a mighty album; a record that drags you under with its spectacularly gloomy sentiments of self-loathing and utter despair only to redress the balance with swathes of dynamic guitar bruising and seductive studio inventiveness".

The review noted that while the record displayed more musical variety than the debut album, "at heart, however, Headswim are still a battle-weary rock band.