The Katz brothers of Sputnik Music summarize Such Blinding Stars and Cursive's sound at the time as "11 distortion soaked, emotion ridden songs, comes off as a younger, worse, version of the band's breakthrough Domestica"[11] while AllMusic's Peter D'Angelo said the album "lays down the framework for the Cursive method: delicate guitars that erupt into frenzied explosions, a rhythm section that consistently keeps each track barreling forward, and the harrowing vocal contributions of Tim Kasher.

The primary cause was Kasher's marriage and move with his wife to Portland, Oregon, though guitarist Pedersen was planning on also leaving the band and Omaha to attend law school in North Carolina.

[17] Reviewing Domestica, Pitchfork's Taylor Clark gave the album an 8.0/10.0, calling Tim Kasher's style as "the perfect inflection and expression from the far-from-perfect vocal chords, the brains evident behind the guitar brawn" and that the band's sound had evolved since The Storms of Early Summer, saying that Cursive "retained their razor edge, creating pulsing, rapidly evolving guitar-based music, yet they're now fueled and guided by the meaning behind the music".

Burst and Bloom's lead-off track, "Sink to the Beat", is a lyrically meta-concept song about the process of recording the EP itself and the effect it has on the music and the listener.

[6] The Ugly Organ is a loose concept album about the ideas of what art and music are, how the song, singer, and audience all relate and influence each other, and the emotional effects of the songwriting process on the writer.

[6][23] Kasher stated in an interview with Alternative Press in 2014 that the songs he wrote were not written to be tight conceptually, and credits guitarist and sometimes-vocalist Ted Stevens with finding the theme to the album, saying, "Really, Ted [Stevens, guitar] had a large role in laying the songs out and considering what they all meant and how they related to each other and creating a higher concept from the artwork, of the theatrical layout.

"[24] The addition of Cohn's cello to the music was noted by Adam Finley of Pop Matters as helping to give songs a "sense of epic scale" and "threatening edge", and that the songs overall sounded as though "all roads led through a haunted house of grotesque situations and twisted characters, each a reflection through a broken carnival mirror of Kasher converting pounds of flesh into something saleable.

[25][26] Lead singer and songwriter Tim Kasher took time to focus on his other band, The Good Life, which he had formed in 2000 and whose third release, 2004's Album of the Year, was enjoying critical success.

[25] Drummer Clint Schnase along with bassist Matt Maginn toured with Bright Eyes, including 2004's Vote for Change[25] Cellist Gretta Cohn decided to depart the band permanently, relocating to New York City.

Happy Hollow features a five-piece horn section, adding new texture and redefining the band's sound in place of Cohn's departed cello.

[35] Retaining the horns used on Happy Hollow, Mama, I'm Swollen has a more straightforward rock sound mixed with shifts in keys and time signatures to break up the potential for monotony.

"[31] Mama, I'm Swollen failed to garner the critical success of the past few Cursive albums, with a "weighted average" score of 65 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

With a lyric sheet described by Ian Cohen of Pitchfork Media as a "full-blown libretto", I Am Gemini is presented as a play, telling the story of "twin brothers separated at birth, one good and one evil, their unexpected reunion in a house that is not a home ignites a classic struggle for the soul.

I Am Gemini received a similar critical evaluation as Mama, I'm Swollen, scoring a measure of 63 on "weighted average" from Metacritic, or generally favorable reviews.

[39] The Ugly Organ was reissued by Cursive and Saddle Creek in 2014, featuring four additional tracks originally released on 8 Teeth to Eat You and four songs from singles and compilations.

It was also announced that Clint Schnase would be returning to the band in order for previous drummer Symington to focus on recording and touring with Sparta.