[1] Krug, a member of the indie rock band Wolf Parade since 2003, released his first full-length album under the Sunset Rubdown name in 2005 with Snake's Got a Leg, a collection of low-fi recordings made by himself in his bedroom.

[2] By the end of that year the act had been expanded into a full band, including Camilla Wynne Ingr, Jordan Robson-Cramer, and Michael Doerksen.

[4][5] In addition to his work with Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, and other bands such as Frog Eyes and Fifths of Seven, Krug has had an active solo career releasing music under the Moonface moniker and later under his own name.

[4][5] The band, whose members lived in different parts of North America and had limited time together, spent two weeks at Krug's home studio preparing for the recording sessions.

[1] Spectrum Culture acknowledged the difference in the band's sound without electric guitar but said that instrument was not needed to create the "dense, lush, complicated" songs on the album.

They admitted that not everything on the album works, however, pointing to "All Alright" as an example (and noting that Krug himself regrets choices made during that song's production; he said in an interview that he hopes listeners will "love it for me, for I cannot").

[7][11] TMRW Magazine considered the album as "the perfect entry point" for new listeners to the band, saying that while Krug's music is always at least somewhat adventurous, these particular tracks are "cozier" and more accessible than previous releases.

[12] PopMatters regretted the lack of intensity the album provides aside from the "immediacy" of lead single "Reappearing Rat", and remarked that it often sounds more like a Spencer Krug solo affair than a Sunset Rubdown collective effort.