the track "The Great Escape". "Punching Walls" was the first song that the band wrote. A demo version of the song was a B-side to 2006 single "Oceans". "Work" was written following Greener's father being made redundant. Naming of the album The name of the album came from a romantic rhyme by Edward FitzGerald, translated from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness - And Wilderness is Paradise now. Ali Clewer, the band's drummer, read the poem and believed it corresponded well with the album: "The poem describes a place that is a wilderness becoming paradise because of the person who is keeping you company," Clewer explained, "a kind of optimism that seemed to resonate with many of the ideas on the album." Cover art The album's cover art was designed by Tappin Gofton, who created the cover for Coldplay's third album, X&Y, and The Chemical Brothers' Push the Button. The artwork was inspired by a small collection of Victorian book illustrations. The kind of imagery that Tappin Gofton were looking at in these old volumes was noticeably decorative, with many of the pieces displaying strong narrative themes, and it was these two distinct elements that formed the foundations for their ideas. Once they had agreed on the overall thematic look for the covers and a set of ideas for each release, they commissioned the illustrator Kam Tang, who they collaborated with to produce the drawings for the artwork. Critical reaction The album was generally seen as a strong debut by critics on release. On the negative side, the band suffered occasional accusations that they were too similar to other piano-driven bands, such as Coldplay and Keane; The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan talking of Morning Runner filling a "vacancy for a new Coldplay". However, some critics refuted these, with NME's Paul McNamee saying "they're a band that could knock 10 bells out of Keane" and Phil Mongredien of Q stating that a Coldplay comparison "would be doing Morning Runner a disservice." Mike Pattenden from The Times said that it was the band's slower tracks which suggested that "Morning Runner are in it for the long haul." However, the group disbanded in October 2007 before they could release a second album. Release details External links Official artist website