Its release enabled No Joy to book their own national U.S. tour, bringing along La Sera (a Vivian Girls side project) for a three-week stint of mostly West Coast shows.
Pitchfork reviewed the album, saying that "The guitars, loud enough to obliterate everything within 50 yards, create a balmy atmosphere where lacerating riffs and blurry strumming shares face time with ear-piercing feedback".
[5] The final package "convincingly captures the gloriously fuzzy, effects-covered sound of the shoegaze era, but escapes being mere copycats by adding a wonderfully spooky atmosphere and by writing hooky, easy to swallow melodies", said a 4.5 star review from AllMusic.
[6] The praise for Ghost Blonde, and No Joy's notoriously loud and hypnotizing live act, garnered attention from notable publications such as The New York Times, BrooklynVegan and The Guardian[7] amongst others.
The band toured North America during the remainder of 2011, supporting Vivian Girls and then co-headlining with Marnie Stern, with whom they released a split single (No Joy contributed Shangri-Las cover "He Cried").
[9] In June 2012, with No Joy's second album they began working with producer Jorge Elbrecht (Sky Ferreira, Ariel Pink, Japanese Breakfast) who would go on to become an integral part of the band's sound.