[1] The album marks a sharp departure from their previous synthpop era and features contributions from rappers Mos Def, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, and Lee Majors of Da Bush Babees.

Allmusic said that of the contemporary "updates" that "rapper cameos, vague house beats, grunge guitars -- sound as if they're pasted over backing tracks from 1986.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but disconcerting, since the heart of this album is squarely in Cupid & Psyche 85 territory."

Ultimately they conclude: "Anomie & Bonhomie [...] remains faithful to the sophisti-pop aesthetic the band pioneered in the mid-'80s.

"[4] NME stated that Gartside successfully takes influences from contemporary genres such as grunge and hip-hop and "hammers" them into the Scritti aesthetic, concluding, "Gartside has returned with an album as glossy, eccentric and beguiling as he's ever made" [5] The Independent was more critical, claiming that Anomie & Bonhomie has an "uneasy alliance between hard rock, hip-hop and ambient", that the album "comes waving a big sign announcing its sophistication, but, for all the care and polish taken in its execution, it lacks the easy, relaxed air that sustains the truly sophisticated.