[5] "We let Tellison lie and dealt with the body blows of having everyone around you feel like you aren’t worth the effort" singer and guitarist Stephen Davidson explained in an interview.
[5] In July 2012, Davidson retreated to a "creaky old house by the sea" near Gullane, Scotland where he wrote the song "Wrecker", although had previously intended to write the entire album.
[8] The band decided to work with Jenkin as they felt he could encapsulate the middle ground between the organic "guys in a practice room" or "punk-rock" sound and polished "pop".
"I’d work ten hours a day then catch the bus to Highbury and stay in the studio until either I or Andy passed out or started shouting at each other" Davidson recalled.
[8] It took the band around nine months to complete the record, which Davidson attributed to "I’m a stickler for detail and we spent a lot of time trying to make sure parts complimented one another".
[14] Davidson was partly inspired by his own experiences within the band, leading to the sentiment of failure expressed on the opening track on the album "Letter to the Team (After Another Imperfect Season)".
Davidson believed his bandmate sometimes "doesn’t appear to realise when he’s written something great" recalling similar circumstances with another of Phillips tracks "Gallery" from their album Contact!
[17] "Tact is Dead" charts Davidson's first realisation that he would likely not achieve his dreams as well as his feelings of apathy, betrayal and disappointment of believing in meritocracy and that if he was polite and worked hard that he would be ok.
[18] Davidson's lyrics reference Herman Melville's short story Bartleby, the Scrivener, as well as making nods to work by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Conrad and Woody Allen.
Tsundoku is a Japanese word for the act of 'constantly buying books and letting them pile up without getting the chance to read them' which Davidson related back to Tellison as a band "All those overlooked possibilities, all those unfulfilled potentials".
[21] The first single titled "Tact Is Dead" premiered on 4 March 2015 as a free download with, an accompanying music video directed by Malcolm Greenhill.
[10] The release of the album was celebrated with a special show at St Pancras Old Church on 18 September 2015, followed by a nine date tour of the United Kingdom in support of the new record.
[17] On 5 November 2015 it was announced that the band would perform Hope Fading Nightly in its entirety at Alcopop Records own Alcopopalooza showcase on 23 January 2016 at The Windmill, Brixton.
[34][35] Writing for The Independent, Remfry Dedman called Hope Fading Nightly "a truly great album" and that "given the passage of time is surely destined to become a classic for those who like intelligent indie-pop underdog anthems".
[30] Rob Barbour wrote for Punktastic that Hope Fading Nightly "might be the strongest collection of songs released by a British artist this year" and that "whether angry or heartbroken, apologetic or apoplectic, Tellison can’t help but sound achingly honest and stunningly, heartbreakingly melodic.
[31] Reviewers also highlighted the band's level of success, how it may have contributed towards creating the album as well as questioning whether Hope Fading Nightly would improve the popularity of Tellison.
[30][31][33] Antoine Omisore of Hit the Floor proclaimed that whilst the album would not propel them into the mainstream it was "drenched in lively melodies and suffocates you with stylishly shrewd lyrics".