Anna

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Islington Gazette 's Stephen Moore commented that the "sluggish feel to much of the LP that drowns out, or at least distracts from, what was once a key strength". AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares said the album follows the "polished, anthemic vein" of Falcon, while "bring[ing] back some of the swagger [from their debut] that was missing from those songs". In December 2013, the band toured across the UK to close out the year, after which they went on hiatus.

Anna received mixed reviews from critics, with some commenting on the production, while others thought the songs were uninspired. Due to inventory and accounting purposes, we do not exchange items received for different items than originally purchased. PopMatters contributor Ben Olson saw Anna as being "every bit as infectious as their impressive debut, but it is bigger, glossier, and clearly intended to be played in massive, sold out stadiums".It has been two years since Courteeners last album Falcon, which charted at number 6 and followed the bands number 4 debut album St Jude. Sometime after, they had accumulated six-to-seven new songs, though Fray was unsure of what direction they would take. Four days later, the artwork was revealed, showing a woman in front of cooling towers, wearing sunglasses with a reflection of a horse in them.

The song was released as the album's second single on 6 May 2013; the seven-inch vinyl edition featured a live version of "Last of the Ladies" as its B-side, while the digital download version included "Let Down Your Guard" and a remix of "Van Der Graaff". The album was promoted with two tours of the UK, as well as various festival appearances, including Glastonbury, Isle of Wight and T in the Park. They ended the year with another UK tour, and the release of the album's third and final single "Are You in Love with a Notion? Marquee" is a violin-driven song that lacks drums, while "Money" is a glam rock and space rock track, styled after the work of Muse and Kings of Leon.

Fray said they wanted to hire a newcomer to do the art, instead of finding a well-known artist, eventually coming across Paul X Johnson through mutual friends.

After frontman Liam Fray broke his ankle, he re-listened to the material they had up to that point and felt they could be improved on. The Irish Times 's Lauren Murphy echoed a similar sentiment, stating that the most prominent issue with the band's "output is that it’s simply far too ordinary", explaining that it "rarely switch[es] tempo beyond a sturdy, mid-placed plod". Jamie Carson of Clash said it was "full of uninspired and recycled riffs starkly illuminated by the God awful woe-is-me-I’m-northern lyrics". In September 2013, the band performed at the Ibiza Rocks festival and Fray embarked on a solo acoustic tour of the UK, some shows included matinee performances.

Push Yourself" is reminiscent of the disco-rock direction of Two Door Cinema Club and Franz Ferdinand.

It evolved out of "Gin on Friday", a song that dated back from the period of their 2007 debut single "Cavorting"; while "Gin on Friday" revolved about being in one's late teens, "Here Come the Young Men" saw the band "looking back over those years, but also saying that we’re not finished yet". Two years later we made the move to our present address, 35 The Headrow, where we have remained ever since. The album's closing song "Here Come the Young Men" features guitar riffs in the style of the Vaccines.This period of time allowed him to re-listen to the songs they had up to that point, which he felt could be improved upon. They played a few shows in 2011, spending most of the year working on their next album, debuting some new songs in the process. musicOMH contributor Howard Gorman countered this by writing that Fray's "solid vocals keep the album on track and worthy of hearing through to the end". The band toured the UK shortly afterwards; "Van Der Graaff" was released as the album's second single in May 2013.