Alex Turner with Dev Hynes for a one-off show in London and recorded a spoken word track "A Choice of Three" for Helders' compilation album "". Turner has described Arctic Monkeys' third album, "Humbug", released in August 2009, as "a massive turning point" in the band's career. They travelled to Joshua Tree, California to work with producer Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and explored a heavier sound. While Petridis of "The Guardian" found some lyrics "too oblique to connect", he was impressed by the band's "desire to progress". He described "Cornerstone" as a "dazzling display of what Turner can
Suck It and See such as "The Rain-Shaped Shimmer Trap", "The Thunder-Suckle Fuzz Canyon", "The Blond-O-Sonic Rape Alarm", and "Thriller", according to a band interview in the "NME". The track "Piledriver Waltz" was first released on Alex Turner's debut EP, "Submarine", where it was credited to Turner as a solo artist, featuring Ford on drums. The version included on "Suck It and See" is a re-recording with the whole band involved. A music video for "Brick by Brick" was released shortly before the album details were revealed on 10 March. However, Matt Helders confirmed that "Brick by Brick" would not be the lead single.