Former Ghosts is a project of Freddy Ruppert, former member of This Song Is a Mess But So Am I, with loose collaborations from multiple people including Xiu Xiu frontperson Jamie Stewart, Zola Jesus originator Nika Roza Danilova, Yasmine Kittles of Tearist, Annie Lewandowski of Powerdove, and Carla Bozulich.

[3]Pitchfork said the debut single, "Hold On", "sounds like what might've happened to Joy Division if Ian Curtis had bought a Casio and a four-track and fired the rest of the band.

"[5] The blog Fingers Become Thumbs listed Fleurs as their album of the year (2009), stating: "In all seriousness, this is a dark and intense record in which Ruppert really puts himself out there, so much so that even listening to it can be emotionally draining.

In saying that, by the standards of its members its by no means a ‘difficult’ listen, and in fact was intended to be the synth-pop side-project of Freddy and Jamie.

"[6] Prefixmag.com found Fleurs to be "intermittently brilliant", but felt it could "benefit greatly from more collaboration and judicious editing of the track list".