There is a large variety in the compositions, ranging from the minimalism of the final song, "The Light Continent", to the rough, almost Nadir-like sound of "Always is Next", the complex "Unrehearsed" and the ballad "Since the Kids".

The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Peter Hammill's own studio, Terra Incognita in Bath, between January and July 1998.

All instruments were played and all voices sung by Hammill, except for violin and viola by Stuart Gordon, saxophones and flute by David Jackson, and drums and percussion by Manny Elias.

[1] The songs are interspersed with small instrumental fragments (according to Hammill, "their presence is essential in order to glue the whole thing together"[1]).

There is a tachograph disc, ripped out of the machine at high speed on one of the tours, and a picture of a wristwatch that used to belong to Hammill's father.