The album's themes are varied and cryptic, but are generally melancholic and focused on relationships. They are exemplified by the four singles: "Balloons", "Cassius", "Red Socks Pugie", and "Olympic Airways".
The album was recorded in Stay Gold Studios Brooklyn in summer 2007,[3] and was produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. However, Foals remixed Antidotes in London, complaining that he made it sound like it was "recorded in the Grand Canyon."[4]
However, in an interview with MusFlashTV, Foals' drummer Jack Bevan said, "Our producer, David Sitek was great because he didn't interfere in the actual recording progress. We kind of engineered it so that we would get the tracks down, get all of the sort of essential parts down and then, halfway through the recording he kind of came in, and when we were doing overdubs and that kind of thing, he sort of started to assist us with making it sort of fill out." Yannis added "All the sounds were there, and he added a depth. He messed with the spaces around the sounds so there's this weird ambience on all the tracks."[5]
The tracking of the parts was unorthodox in many ways ranging from drums recorded in alleyways on cassette tape recorders and then reprocessed through outboard gear to vocals being sung while moving round the room and brass performed by members of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra directed to not play directly into the microphones.
^"Gigwise review". Gigwise.com. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
^Dave Simpson (21 March 2008). "The Guardian review". London: Music.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
^"NME review". Nme.com. 12 March 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
^Guardian Staff (17 February 2008). "Reviews 11-25". Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
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