[1] It was released on XL Records on March 6, 2007.

[2] It peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200 chart,[3] number 5 on the Heatseekers Albums chart,[4] and number 23 on the Independent Albums chart.

[6][7] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Club gave the album a grade of B−, saying: "About half of The Third Hand is given over to dub exercises and soundtrack-ready soundscapes, while the other half pushes fairly conventional alt-pop, heavy on the Beatles-esque flourishes.

"[8] Dave Heaton of PopMatters gave the album 5 stars out of 10, saying: "You may have to listen past a few layers to be satisfied, but there is a level of satisfaction to be found.