Previous albums featured clean production with a heavy emphasis on synthpop, whereas For John is stripped down, lo-fi guitar rock in style of early FM radio.

[2] Farrell was an early and avid proponent of Library Voices; he did not drive a car but would take a bus from Buffalo to locations across southern Ontario to see the band perform.

[3] On hearing of Farrell's death, the band's lyricist Michael Dawson said that he and songwriter Carl Johnson "instinctively wanted to release some material dedicated to and inspired by John.

[5] Noting the radical change from the Library Voices' previous work, Noah Siegel of New Canadian Music said the album "could be from an entirely different act altogether.

Gone are the potent hooks and shimmering, glossy production, swapped for hazy vocals, fuzzy guitars, and a lo-fi sheen" and found that For John "all works though, still replete with their signature clever lyrics, and as a neat slice of Canadiana rock.