Songfacts®:

• Foals have often flirted with dance music on their earlier records, taking inspiration from techno music. "In Degrees" finds them going for the jugular as they push further onto the dance floor than they've ever been before. Vocalist Yannis Philippakis explained in an iTunes track by track:
  
  "I thought it was a cool paradox to have a dance floor song that will hopefully bring people together in a meaningful way in a sweaty room, and the song lyrically is basically about the lack of that."
• Philippakis elaborated to Consequence of Sound on the disparity between the song's lyrical content and the way a dance track unites people.
  
  "I was attracted to this idea of having a contrast between a song that's talking about a lack of meaningful human communication, but also knowing a dance track inevitably brings people together in physical environments where people dance and have a good time," he explained. "This song kind of became like a Trojan horse, where its message is kind of is to do with being isolated in a way where it's a contrast with the way it will be listened to."
• The synth-heavy song is propelled by a house beat. "We had an appetite to write some music that made us feel good in a physical way, we felt like we hadn't done that much dancing stuff since Holy Fire," Philippakis told Q Magazine. "There's a big emphasis on grooves on this record."
• Yannis Philippakis explained the song's meaning to ABC Radio: "Essentially it's about when you're aware of a relationship slowly slipping away, incrementally bit-by-bit," he said "There's no big dramatic moment, but it's through the slow drifting apart."
  
  Philippakis added, "Also, the actual phrase 'in degrees' also got me thinking that it could work on a dual level about the environment in a way as well."
• The song's music video finds Foals leading a dance party. The clip was directed by Aaron Brown of Focus Creeps (the team behind the visuals for "That's Why God Made the Radio" by The Beach Boys and "R U Mine?" by Arctic Monkeys).
  
  "What excited me about the track was the dance feel that Foals were doing in contrast to the lyrics," said Brown. "They've always had some of that danceability in their music but this track is a no holds barred, make no mistake about it, post-punk, four on the floor, dance track. In contrast to the music though, is a solemn verse and brooding chorus."