Vocalist and guitarist Chris Peck spent three years playing in a post-Britpop band with his schoolfriend drummer Shaz Mahmood.

[6] The opening punk rock track, "Back Again", sets the pace of the album, with an up-tempo guitar riff and synthesizers, and is followed by the synth-pop song "On and On".

[9][11] The Smiths-indebted "Civil Sin" has a chorus section in the style of Good Mourning (2003)-era Alkaline Trio, and the goth punk of My Chemical Romance.

[32][33] The song "Suzie" was featured in the soundtrack for the video game FIFA Street 2 Civilian was met with mixed reviews from music critics.

AllMusic reviewer Tammy La Gorce wrote that the band, "based on the lingering head-buzz this debut so unsparingly brings on, is headed for the big time".

[34] Malky B of The Skinny wrote that "perhaps they are too close musically to the sound of The Killers, but it is clear that 'Civilian' is an adrenaline-charged work that grants the listener instant gratification".

[20] Drowned in Sound writer Dom Gourlay remarked that some of the band's detractors might say that the bulk of the album might be "lagging behind in the quality stakes", which he agreed with.

[12] NME writer Tim Chester said that where other acts attempt the "throw-enough-shit-at-the-wall-and-some-will-stick approach (see: Mystery Jets) BKB prefer throw-the-same-shit-relentlessly, and thus have an album here with a good tune, nine times".

[11] Pitchfork contributor Rachel Khong saw it as "little more than overhyped, albeit danceable déjà vu-- repeating and threepeating ad infinitum, nauseum [...] turning out near-spitting images of their precursors, contributing little else to a no longer cozy dancerock niche".