It was released on Drag City in 2009 on CD and LP, but not digitally by O'Rourke's request.

O'Rourke played every instrument on the album, and it was all recorded in his home in Tokyo.

[4] Pitchfork Media gave the album a very positive review, stating, "Given its patient development and refusal to climax, The Visitor runs the risk of being labeled boring and bland.

Given its use of common instruments and techniques (a cymbal scraped with a drumstick constitutes the album's most "out" sound), it runs a high risk of being labeled pedestrian, too, as if O'Rourke has taken all of his experimental tendencies and finally reduced them into an adult-contemporary instrumental.

The reluctance of O'Rourke and Drag City to release The Visitor as a digital download, for instance, rebels against our need for instant gratification.