As they were becoming increasingly aware of their label's interest in them and their demos, the band's musical direction was being steered by guitarist Rod Jones.

During a stint of Europe, bassist Bob Fairfoull left the band, and was temporarily replaced by technician Alex Grant.

[10] In January and February 2001, Idlewild had recorded seven songs with producer Stephen Street at Linford Manor in Milton Keynes, prior to a tour of the United States in March and April 2001.

[13][15] They spent a day with producer Lenny Kaye, who Woomble found to be very enthusiastic about the material they had, in Brooklyn, New York City rearranging the songs.

[16] They were scheduled to tour the US again in July and August 2001; however, due to Jones requiring hospitalisation for three weeks for an unspecified injury, it was cancelled.

[2] The band and Eringa recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Wales; sessions progressed slowly, and by the end of the month, Parlophone were still not content with the results.

[21][22] In October and November 2001, they recorded at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall; Woomble said these sessions "need[ed] to matter [...] People expect something from us, and yet we never seem to be able to convince them".

[23] After a brief break at home for Christmas, they returned to RAK in January 2002; it was during this period that Parlophone finally gave the band their approval.

[26] Eringa mixed all of the recordings in January 2002 with assistant Dan Grech-Marguerat, prior to the album being mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York City the following month.

[30] It lacked any of the punk rock traits of the band's previous releases, utilizing more layers of vocals and guitars, alongside the addition of keyboards and strings.

[19][33] Jones said they had planned to make a double album, where all of the electric songs would be on the first half and all the acoustic ones would be on the second part, though he was unsure as to when this idea was dropped.

[34] He considered the time they spent in Inchnadamph to be important to the development of their style, embracing the pop sensibility of their sound, which he said was always present albeit in a reduced manner.

[35] The album's opening track, "You Held the World in Your Arms", features a string arrangement by Sally Herbert, and a synthesizer.

[37] The power pop track "A Modern Way of Letting Go" was compared to the work of the Foo Fighters and echoed the band's roots.

[43] The album's closing track "In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction" ends with a spoken-word narrative from Morgan about the band's Scottish identity.

[25] The liner notes include the phrase "support your local poet", to which Woomble explained it was satire as they had been "tagged as this 'lyrical/poetic' band".

On 1 October 2002, it was announced that bassist Bob Fairfoull had left the band, and was temporarily replaced by bass technician Alex Grant.

[62] In spite of Fox's addition, Grant still continued on bass through to the band's December 2002 UK tour, which was supported by the Walkmen and labelmates the Star Spangles.

[51] Two versions were released on CD: the first with "All This Information", "No Generation", and the music video for "You Held the World in Your Arms", while the second included "A Distant History" and "I Was Made to Think It".

[53] Two versions were released on CD: the first with "Poor Thing", "These Are Just Years", and the music video for "American English" (directed by Alex Smith), while the second featured "The Nothing I Know" and "We Always Have to Impress".

[91] John Donohue of Blender said that the band could not use "goonish rockers" as a pretence anymore as their "romantic natures have taken over, to great effect".

[102] AllMusic reviewer MacKenzie Wilson wrote that the band had found what they were looking for: "a beautiful calmness and a comfortable spot to reflect upon – and The Remote Part flawlessly does the job".

[92] Entertainment Weekly's Brian M. Raftery found the album to be a "perfectly fine collection of emotive, big-ambition British rock songs".

[94] In a review for NME, Mark Beaumont saw the album as a "bold, bright, broken and bitter beast" that showcases a band that "burst out of their student-sheep’s clothing and rip the throat out of Coldplay".

[96] Rolling Stone reviewer Gaylord Fields said the band "ratchet up the latent R.E.M.-isms, elevating themselves heads above their musical kin".

[95] Spin's Andrew Beaujon wrote that the band were "compelling when they put Woomble's sad-sack lyrics front and center," though on a few songs, their "turgid squall swamps his words".