Flood and Paul Hartnoll co-produced the majority of the songs, with them doing additional production on "Idle" and "Inconceivable Odds"; these two were produced by the band.

Dingel mixed the rest of recordings at Assault & Battery Studios, before the album was mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York City.

[5] Dom Gourlay of Drowned in Sound suggested that ten of the album's 12 tracks included "references [...] to a time when the future of the band, and Harvey's career in the music business for that matter, seemed to be in doubt".

[15] "Get Through It" takes influence from Primal Scream, sharing the same drum pattern as that band's song "Swastika Eyes" (1999), and is followed by the baggy track "Vision".

[21] "Strength in Numbers" was released as the album's lead single on 9 June 2008; the CD edition included "Symbol of Hope", "What Am I" and "Traps".

[29] The seven-inch vinyl record version included "Honest", while the CD edition featured "Just Cos I'm Alone", "Hands on Fire" and a remix of "The Spike".

[40] Leahey thought the Strength in Numbers turned "out to be a nice comeback, particularly during the tracks that find that sweet spot between bubbling electronics and stadium Brit-rock".

[6] NME writer Hamish McBain said the "fire is still there, along with a new-found eloquence", though mentioned that the new rave scene "ain’t going to make it easy for The Music [...] to spread their appeal beyond the already-signed-up this time around".

Music felt that one of the band's issues was that they appeared "happy to key in co-ordinates and take the most efficient route, trusting neither their hearts nor their heads".

[12] The Jerusalem Post's David Brinn wrote that the album "may sound great on the dance floor, but on CD the songs are repetitive, unimaginative and utterly immemorable".

[42] Pitchfork contributor Ian Cohen was critical of Hartnoll's work, stating that his "wall-banging production raises serious questions about whether human hands actually made anything on Strength in Numbers".