The album, co-produced by the band alongside Mark Ronson, Giorgio Moroder and Erol Alkan, also features guest appearances by Tove Lo, Ivorian Doll, Japanese band Chai, and Mike Garson. Blur's Graham Coxon is the guitarist on the album.
The band released the album's first single "Invisible" on 19 May 2021. The tracks "More Joy!" featuring Chai, "Anniversary", "Tonight United" and "Give It All Up" featuring Lo were also released in advance of the album.
John Taylor described Future Past as a "very emotionally deep album", revealing that the lyrics were primarily written before 2020's COVID-19 lockdowns: "Many of the songs are about emotional crises, or long-term intimacy issues, let's call them. When we came back after lockdown, I felt that those lyrics, particularly 'Invisible,' spoke to the moment, because the last 18 months have really been about intimacy politics."
