To give fans a preview of the new material, Switchfoot released the downloadable single "Dirty Second Hands" to major online music stores on September 26.

"We weren't trying to achieve anything; we just set out to make music for ourselves,"[12] lead vocalist and principal songwriter Jon Foreman said of the process.

Enlisting their A&R producer Steve Lillywhite, the band tracked the song "Awakening" and were enlivened by his fresh approach to recording.

The rest of the record was produced by Tim Palmer, who Foreman described as possessing the uncanny ability to get "everyone out of their skins, where you begin to forget that the mics are there.

As such, the album was lighter on the sonic layering, with less production elements than Nothing Is Sound or even The Beautiful Letdown, and carried a more pop direction, with new experimentation into areas the band had not previously explored, while also returning to their lo-fi indie roots.

Topics explore living, time, coping with the death of a loved one, and, most dominantly, anti-materialism, particularly in the songs "American Dream" and "4:12," with the lyrics: "You begin to believe/that all we are is material/it's nonsensical."

A contest was also conducted to give fans a chance to win an opportunity to be in the studio with the band to play cowbell on one of the tracks.

By late September, the band had released the song "Dirty Second Hands" as a downloadable single to further promote the album.

Gravity" available for streaming on their MySpace page, the latter of which was serviced to Modern Rock radio as the lead single for the record.

[17] In addition, the band launched the website OhGravity.com, which featured the title track and YouTube clips that highlighted "gravity at its best" - mainly people falling while skateboarding, surfing, and participating in other similar activities.