It also contains tracks from Mike Scott's solo career: "Bring 'em All In," "Long Way to the Light," "My Dark Side," and "Open."

Scott explains the name of the album as "experiences yet to be undergone in order to balance past actions" [1], a reference to the tenet of karma in Hinduism.

This is not the first reference to the concept made by the group; a song named "Karma" appeared as part of the single for "The Return of Pan" from Dream Harder.

Karma to Burn was one of a large number of titles that the band considered for the album, including "A Long Way to the Light," after the song about The Waterboys' break-up after Dream Harder.

The album cover was created by Toshifumi Tanabu, and incorporates a live photo of Mike Scott by Anthony Pidgeon.