[1] Having taken an unofficial hiatus since the release of 2011's There Are Rules, the band began to talk about making new music at 2017's When We Were Young festival.

On the EP's release, lead singer Matt Pryor said "we don’t need to put out new music to make money.

"[3] The track "Maybe" started as a discarded demo that songwriter & guitarist Jim Suptic found on an old tape from the Something to Write Home About era.

"[8] Tem Sendra of AllMusic also remarked on the release's departure from the band's more recent fare, writing "None of the measured indie rock sound of their late-period albums still exists; none of the electronics found on their previous reunion records made it through, either.

Kicker is good-old emo with the energy of punk and the insistent melodies of pop, exactly what the Kids did so well at the turn of the century.