"Arab Strap" garnered an NPR interview and positive reviews from "Rolling Stone" and the "Village Voice," among others; however, the album has its detractors, including "Pitchfork", who gave the album a particularly poor review, calling it a "parody" of their earlier work (Pitchfork has since removed the review from their website, but re-reviewed the album positively in 2018).During the recording of the album, long-time studio trumpet-player Mick Cooke was asked to join the band as a full member.