Many songs on the album have, by Lakeman's own admission, a rockier sound than his earlier, arguably more straightforwardly acoustic folk, material.

[4] The transition into this sound could be argued to originate in the live versions of the Freedom Fields tracks from the respective tour, since many of them had a rockier element added (most notably on the chorus on 'The Colliers').

Beneath a superficial folk-rock jigginess his band has a possibly Led Zeppelin related sense of how acoustic fiddle, guitar and double bass riffs can weigh heavy as metal."

"a ripsnorter of a record that will slake the thirst of crowds roused by a season of his festival performances...Still, after four albums of much the same fayre, our West Country hero might usefully stray into fresh songwriting territory next time, and lose the roll call of cliches which demand that eyes are always burning, nights always dark and dawns crimson."

The Guardian, 27 June 2008, Alexis Petridis "the album is at its best when it's at its most raw, when it stops worrying too much about charming those in charge of radio playlists and lets Lakeman's natural instinct for eeriness shine through."

In an interview for fRoots magazine in March 2008,[4] Lakeman gave more information on some of the tracks: "Feather in a Storm" is based on the story of the Danish pirate John Coppinger who, legend has it, planted false beacons on coastal rocks to lure ships to disaster while his gang lay in wait to salvage the booty.