Fran Healy said, "The album is called "Ode to J. Smith" partly giving a heads up to the key song and partly because all the songs are written about nameless characters or to nameless characters." He has also described the album as a novel with 12 chapters, with each chapter being a song. In live shows promoting the album in spring 2009, Healy said the song Friends was written from the perspective of the girlfriend of the book's protagonist (J.Smith), about friends who are only there to ask for favours. The album would be released through their own record label Red Telephone Box, with the lead single "Something Anything" being released on 15 September. Two weeks later on 29 September, "Ode to J. Smith" was released. The band also headlined a 12-gig UK tour to coincide with the releases between 22 September and 8 October. Early reviews were very positive, with some calling it Travis' best record ever.