Preceding the album, "Moving On" was released as a single in April 2014, with La Petite Mort appearing in June through BMG and Cooking Vinyl.
The tracks on La Petite Mort were influenced by the deaths of frontman Tim Booth's mother and his best friend Gabrielle Roth.
[3] James embarked on a UK tour later in the same year with Orchestra of the Swan and the Manchester Consort Choir as the group's backing ensemble.
[4] A career-spanning boxset entitled The Gathering Sound appeared in late 2012, complete with all of their studio albums, a variety of B-sides and unreleased material.
[6] Between June and November 2012, Booth, bassist Jim Glennie and guitarist Larry Gott spent time in Portugal (Porto), Greece (Athens) and the UK (Manchester and Scottish Highlands) writing new material.
[8] Booth said the writing this time was opened to Davies and keyboardist Mark Hunter, which he felt have the material a "more organic" sound.
[9] James wanted a producer that would take them to a different sonic soundscape, eventually finding Max Dingel from his work with Alt-J, the Killers and Glasvegas.
[13] Amidst a series of festival appearances,[12] recording for La Petite Mort took place at RAK Studios in London in July 2013 with Dingel producing.
[14] Booth said javing the sessions at RAK allowed them to have all "sort[s] of technology at our disposal", in contrast to the make-shift studio they used for Hey Ma.
[14] The album's title La Petite Mort is taken from "Frozen Britain",[16] and draws from its overall themes of death and release;[17] and translates to orgasm in French.
[27] The track was compared to British Sea Power, while during the chorus Booth channelled James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers.
[23] "Gone Baby Gone" is a bass-driven electronic track[4] that sees Booth discuss the choice between a stable relationship or freedom of being single.
[28] "Frozen Britain" is a guitar pop track[29] where Booth's vocal during the hook was compared to Robert Smith of the Cure.
[31] Discussing "Interrogation", Davies said the band worked on a demo of it at Glennie's house, which consisted of two separate pieces of music joined together.
[46] La Petite Mort was released on 2 June;[49] its artwork featured a human skull, stylised in the vein of Day of the Dead.
[4] Booth had suggested the concept, but did not want to solely "present a Western view of death," sending some skulls to an artist, who in turn sent the final cover.
[54] La Petite Mort was released on 16 September in the US; a one-off show in that territory was held in New York City.
[62] AllMusic reviewer Timothy Monger said the group offered one of their "more moving and personal records", full of "colorful new songs that sound more inspired than sad.
[63] Spectrum Culture writer Michael Merline found it "frequently joyful, exuberant and energetic" instead of "morose or even overly contemplative.
"[25] Andy Walsh of Renowned for Sound said it was a "solid effort ... [f]or the most part, the writing is focused, the production is polished and Booth's vocals standout in a manner we are used to hearing.
"[37] musicOMH writer Graeme Marsh said it was "probably better than expected", since it was bookended by "two (almost) James classics", though at times the "production strips away the potential majesty.
"[17] Mack Hayden of Under the Radar wrote that the group "maintain[ed] their identity even when trying on or shaking off new clothes" when experimenting with different sounds.
"[68] QRO editor Ted Chase felt that it got a "little too ‘up with people’ at times [...] but there are also pieces where the group strips down" successfully, such as in "Interrogation" and "Gone Baby Gone".
[66] Virgin Media reviewer Ian Gittins found that "after nearly 30 years, the idiosyncratic, quixotic James are always worth persevering with", but criticized the second half of the record as being the group at "their most morose and maudlin.
[76] All songs written by Tim Booth, Larry Gott, Jim Glennie, Saul Davies and Mark Hunter.