Originally released on March 10, 2003, through Domino Recording Company, it was later reissued on May 4, 2009, with five additional bonus tracks.

The song "Wait" was featured in the film Children of Men (2006), while "Monkey 23" was featured in the film The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and in Adam Curtis' BBC documentary All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace Part 1 (2011); "Cat Claw" and "Wait" were both overheard in the Criminal Minds Season 3 episode, "Doubt," and "Fried My Little Brains" was used in the Sherlock Series 3 episode, "The Sign of Three", and in the game Gran Turismo 6.

Rather, they got the music press to come to them with their minimalist yet powerful live shows (which also included the drum machine), the pair maintaining an air of tension by subverting the expected role of stage performer.

Mosshart chain-smoked while singing, rarely speaking to the audience, whilst Hince violently ripped blues riffs from his instrument.

[2] Rolling Stone was complimentary, saying the music was "dark, kick-ass garage rock" and the album was "a bruising disc of post-modern blues".