[1] Rather than search for a new vocalist for the band, Magnetic Fields leader Stephin Merritt decided to sing the songs he had been writing instead.

[1] While the songs on the album are accessible and melodic, they nonetheless exude a "chilly tone" and fondness for what Mason described as "odd noises and unexpected accents.

[5] Trouser Press felt the album consists of songs with Casio keyboards as their foundation, albeit "accessorized" with "the unconventional bookends of Johny Blood's tuba and Sam Davol's cello.

With its lo-fi production and combination of synthesized and acoustic instrumentation, the 20-second track features an "oddly eccentric looping of tones".

[5] In the words of Mason, the phrasing of the album's lyrics "vacillates mostly between the poles of deadpan wryness and romantic longing" and, with their "striking imagery" and "Cole Porter-level rhymes", mix mordant wit with unabashed romanticism.

[8] Reviewing Holiday for AllMusic, Stewart Mason described the songwriting on the record as "a huge leap beyond the first two Magnetic Fields albums" and felt that "[e]very track here is a winner.