The band went on a pre-release US tour in June and July, leading up to the release of Perfecting Loneliness on October 15 through independent label Jade Tree.

[5] Vocalist/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach spent six weeks at his mother's farm in Nova Scotia, Canada;[6] his family planned to go on vacation and left him alone at the house.

[13] The opening guitar riff of "The Frequency" recalled Hum,[14] before shifting into a mix of power pop and a Built to Spill-esque instrumental.

[7] "Perfecting Loneliness", which lasts for over five minutes in length, combined the lyrical nature of the group's debut studio album Orange Rhyming Dictionary (1998) with the layered sound of Four Cornered Night.

[22] The artwork features a castle under a twilight moon; guitarist Brian Maryansky saw the image in a children's book that they found in the street.

"[32] Chart Attack writer Elizabeth Chorney-Booth said Schwarzenbach's transition from "emo-punk hero to dreamy-eyed pop wuss is complete… and the results are lovely."

"[16] AllMusic reviewer Charles Spano noted the "deeper instrumentation, undone piano melodies, and larger-than-life orchestration", which the group used to "turn intimate observations into moments of transcendent grandeur.

"[9] David Peisner of Maxim said it "does a great job splitting the difference between their two earlier releases, highlighting often gooey melodies in amongst Schwarzenbach’s tortured romantic wailings".

[37] Sputnikmusic staff member Tyler Fisher said that despite the group toing the "line of bland here and there", the music is, at times, "perfectly beautiful.

"[6] CMJ New Music Monthly writer Matt Ashare said the title serves as "window dressing for a disc that takes itself pretty seriously".

[39] Louis Miller of CMJ New Music Report said the "lushly arranged" collection saw the group crafting "stellar, yet humble songs ... that quite often develop into six and seven-minute epics.

[31] Punk Planet reviewer Kyle Ryan saw the album as a big improvement over its predecessor, calling it "an amazing piece of work", adding that it "finds Jets successfully marrying Blake's roots and future.

[40] PopMatters writer Adam Dlugacz said album "immediately addresses some of the problems that were prevalent" on Four Cornered Night, however, by the midway point, things became "absolutely inexplicable to me.

"[35] Punknews.org staff member Scott Heisel criticized the album for "lacking in the lyrical department", "recycling themes" from Orange Rhyming Dictionary and the length of the songs.

[42] In a negative review for Pitchfork, Eric Carr wrote that it was a "sad example of a few decent arrangements being recycled and regurgitated until, by the end of the album", with nothing "left but pre-chewed, partially digested gunk.

"[15] Blender reviewer Douglas Wolk was equally dismissive, saying that Schwarzenbach attempted to make "lush, emotionally revelatory pop songs with extra rock & roll oomph; what he ends up with is 67 minutes of plaintive whine, few melodies worthy of JTB’s rep, several piano ballads too many and a couple of decent rockers".