The album was recorded in January 2006 at Presshouse Studio, Colyton, Devon, and was produced by Simon Emmerson and Simon ‘Mass’ Massey from the Afro Celts, who helped to incorporate elements of traditional African, ambient and electronic dance music with the duo's characteristic folk style.

Lyrically, the album addresses communal and heritage values, and was described by the duo's lead singer Steve Knightley as a "cinematic style journey of the West Country.

Critical praise greeted both releases and the latter brought the band a new wave of attention, with its title song being nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2005 and featuring on the accompanying compilation album.

Miranda Sykes accompanied the band on the tour, playing double bass and performing as a backing vocalist.

For the band's next album, they sought a change in direction, with the duo and Sykes being influenced by numerous other music.

The album incorporates elements of traditional African, ambient and electronic dance music with the duo's characteristic folk style.

[4] One commentary noted that the album "exemplifies how the digital recording techniques contribute to hybrid musical styles".

The album opens with "two punchy, driving songs" which lyrically have been described as "archetypal Steve",[8] both concerning "the intentional desecration of English life of one kind or another".

"[8] "Roots" has also been described as being about a "search for identity" "which questions a lot about cultural values, leaving the listener to infer the answers,"[10] and as one of Knightley's "acerbic epics".

[7] The song was triggered by minister Kim Howells’ comment that his idea of hell was listening to "three Somerset folk singers in the local pub".

[11] Contrasting the two songs is the third track "The Dive", an "uptempo global workout" about the West Country coastline that has been compared to the Afro Celt Sound System.

The first part of the piece, "The Falmouth Packet", is an instrumental composed by Beer and recorded originally for his collaborative album The Fiddle Collection (1999).

The second part, "Haul Away Joe", is a traditional song arranged by the duo with "ancillary voices" performed by The Fisherman's Friends.

[1] "Innocent's Song" is the duo's "dark" arrangement of Johnny Coppin's musical version of Charles Causley's poem of the same name.

A compilation live DVD of performances from the Tour of Topsham was released as Tour of Topsham March 2007 at the end of the year, coinciding with the release of their "best of" retrospective compilation album Roots: The Best of Show of Hands (2007), which features three songs from the album; "Roots", which is presented as the version from the music video, "The Falmouth Packet/Haul Away Joe" and "Innocents' Song / Gwithian".

"[8] Iain Hazlewood of Spiral Earth said "everything has come together perfectly on this recording," noting the production resulted in a "confident enveloping sound", that "the alchemy between [the duo] is in their arrangements, lifting their music away from divides of genre", and that the "sense of place was as strong as ever".

[2] Colin Irwin of the publication said that "Steve Knightley's songs have developed such an edge that it's hard to deny them any longer".

Other contenders included Sir Francis Drake, Charles Babbage, Agatha Christie and Muse.