[8][9] Three songs, "Gilded Cages", "To Clear the Air", and "Festival Fun", do not include drums, bass, or guitar.

[11] Salon wrote that "it's ironic that the album's best moments are those when he tears down his Brill Building façade and turns the guitars up a bit, as on 'Everything So Real' and especially 'The Pleasant Kind', the one song where Matthews' melodic sensibility doesn't sound grave-robbed.

"[7] The Boston Globe stated that "Matthews' exceptional music is lovely and strange; if only his opaque lyrics were equally evocative.

"[14] Rolling Stone determined that "the piano, bass and spare percussion on 'No Gnashing Teeth' serve an arrangement that would make Brian Wilson proud.

"[15] The Dayton Daily News opined that Matthews "sings in a hushed whisper reminiscent of the late folkie Nick Drake.