[2] The recording of the album was overshadowed by the deaths of several friends and family members, but the band were determined to react to the experience positively, rather than wallow in melancholia – Boulter said in an interview that "we didn't want that for the people that'd gone.

"[3] In a video interview with the Dutch online music magazine FaceCulture, singer Stuart Staples said the album's title was inspired by a story related by guitarist David Kitt, when Kitt had been sent to a songwriting workshop in the United States, and a fellow attendee was having trouble finding a suitable adjective to describe the song he was writing.

[4] The album's cover is taken from a work of art titled Skies, September '10–September '11 by Staples' wife Suzanne Osborne, and photographed by guitarist Neil Fraser.

It may not be a Tindersticks classic, in the same vein as 1997's sublime Curtains, but The Something Rain is a record full of mystery and intrigue that will keep you listening—and discovering new things each time—for a good while"[14] and Mojo said that "...for all its gentle yet intense reflection, it's never overtly maudlin".

It may be nearly two decades since their debut album but The Something Rain sounds like a band in their prime, switching between styles effortlessly and enjoying a new lease of life.