Following the release of their third studio album The Remote Part (2002), Gavin Fox replaced bassist Bob Fairfoull, and touring guitarist Allan Stewart became a permanent member.

They spent the majority of 2003 writing material, before traveling to Malmö, Sweden to record at Tambourine Studios with producer Dave Eringa.

[3] Despite the album receiving favourable press in the US, the band's American label Capitol Records declined to promote it in that territory.

[11] It marked the first time that every member of the band contributed to the writing process, as previous releases were done for the most part between vocalist Roddy Woomble and guitarist Rod Jones.

[13] Idlewild recorded with producer Dave Eringa and engineer Guy Massey at Tambourine Studios in Malmö, Sweden, where they had done five tracks.

[18] Hoffer drafted in additional musicians, such as Inara George and Greg Leisz, to enhance the recordings; George sung additional vocals on "Love Steals Us from Loneliness", "I Want a Warning", "Too Long Awake", and "Goodnight", while Leisz played pedal steel guitar on "Goodnight" and "Disconnected".

[17] The band ended up making music akin to stadium rock from the 1980s, with a large amount of overdubs and effects units in place, close to the work of AC/DC.

[15] Michael Brauer mixed the recordings at Quad Studios in New York City, before the album was mastered by Chris Athens in November 2004.

[15][21] On the DVD that accompanies Scottish Fiction - Best of 1997-2007, there is a section titled The Making of Warnings/Promises, which includes interviews with the band members and their thoughts on the album.

[22][23] Woomble said the band attempted to mesh their American influences, such as Superchunk and Hüsker Dü, with acts that they later discovered, such as the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, adding in elements of country and folk music.

[23][27][28] The power ballad "Welcome Home", which was reminiscent of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (2004) by Green Day, is followed by "I Want a Warning", which saw a return to the sound of the band's earlier releases.

[5][22][28] "I Understand It" includes vocal harmonies in the style of Crosby, Stills & Nash and elements of electronic music; the Teenage Fanclub-indebted "As If I Hadn't Slept" follows.

[5][32] The initial acoustic iteration of "Too Long Awake" serves as the album's hidden track, tacked onto the end of the closing song "Goodnight".

[11] Two versions were released on CD: the first with "Gone Too Long", "Don't Let Me Change", and the music video for "Love Steals Us from Loneliness" (directed by Jamie Thraves), while the second included "Hold On to Your Breath".

[30] Newton said the band struggled to persuade Parlophone to release the song as the first single; he felt it "perfectly bridges where we were with the last album and where we are now".

[36][40][41] Between June and August 2005, the band played a series of festivals, including Isle of Wight, Summer Sundae, and V, interspersed with supporting U2 and R.E.M.

[36] "Love Steals Us from Loneliness", "El Capitan", "Too Long Awake", and "Not Just Sometimes But Always" were included on the band's third compilation album, The Collection (2010).

[56] Drowned in Sound's Gareth Dobson saw it as "the work of a band pushing itself to the limits of its generous, but ultimately not boundless musical ability".

He added that the band's decision to make an album of "such landmark size and scope has finally stripped the Icarus Woomble of his wings".

[48] In a review for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield wrote that the album was "even better" than the preceding one, "a set of hopeless love songs for sad-eyed city girls".

Launch's Anna Britten said the band's choice to let all of the members write material is a "ghastly idea, yielding gutless musical porridge that thrills no-one".

"[22] Betty Clarke of The Guardian wrote that the album is a "slightly awkward composite of the band's old strengths and a flurry of new ideas", while Wooble's lyrics have "sunk deeper into disillusion".

[49] Pitchfork contributor Jason Crock said the album follows the "same direction" as the previous one: "the work of a polished radio-ready rock band, and if I had to sum it up in a word, it'd be 'comfortable'".