[4] Hailed by critics as "one of the finest [breakup records] of recent vintage",[5] frontman Scott Hutchison has described the album as being "a lot more intense" than its predecessor Sing the Greys (2006).

Viewed as a showpiece for modern Scottish music, the album has continued to receive recognition long after its release and has been featured on various year- and decade-end critic lists.

[citation needed] Having originally started as a solo project of singer-guitarist-lyricist Scott Hutchison in 2003, the band went on to release Sing the Greys - effectively an album of demos - in 2006 with a run of 1,000 copies.

[6] After signing to independent label Fat Cat Records in 2007 after gradually building their reputation from word of mouth,[7] the band re-recorded several parts of the album and subsequently re-released it to serve as a "taster" for new material.

[6] To record The Midnight Organ Fight, the band stayed with producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) for a month at his home studio in Connecticut.

Club awarded the album an "A−" grade and particularly praised the honesty throughout the record; "it's Hutchison's utterly believable desperation and frank lyrics that push the whole thing from good to great.

Writer Chad Grischow comments that The Midnight Organ Fight "triumphantly feeds your heart, soul, feet, and mind all at once, and will become an instant favorite with just one listen.

[21] Writing for Lost at Sea magazine, Jon Burke awarded a score of 9.5/10 and noted, "there is honesty in these songs that cannot be found on most of the pretentious pap getting heralded as 'the next big thing.'

[22] Mojo magazine gave the album four stars out of five and opined, "What might sound like a depressing work of angsty indulgence is in fact an uplifting record of angular alt-folk",[15] while sister-publication, Q magazine, who similarly awarded four stars, noted "Midnight Organ Fight more than delivers on its promise: tons of spiky energy, proper tunes and a real lyrical bite to the likes of The Modern Leper".

Midnight Organ Flight [sic] is full of rousing barnburners that flicker with soul, ballads that ache with masculine vulnerability, and Frightened Rabbit's best song yet, opener "The Modern Leper"".

[23] Scottish magazine, The Skinny described the album as one "that invokes a range of emotions but generally leaves you exhilarated; enough, in Frightened Rabbit's unique idiom, to make the fast blood hurricane through you".

[24] Adam Knott of Sputnikmusic scored the album at 4.5/5 and summarised that the band, "succeed in mixing indie rock and traces of folk into 48 minutes of driven and emotional melodies that lift you up, beat you down and eventually bring closure.

Death Cab for Cutie bassist Nick Harmer cites that the album is his favourite 2008 release, stating: "It's lyrically perfect with words that hit you right in the heart.

Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil stated in an October 2008 interview that "The Modern Leper" was his favourite song of the year, and Frightened Rabbit were soon announced as the main support during their December tour: "We're incredibly excited to tell you that we'll be joined in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, by the quite brilliant Frightened Rabbit, whose album The Midnight Organ Fight is one of the best albums of this year.

[28] Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World posted a blog on the band's official MySpace citing that: "[The Midnight Organ Fight] was my favorite album of the year.

Potty-mouthed songwriter Scott Hutchison's dog-on-heat tales of drunken love and lust could, in less capable hands, have manifested themselves as self-indulgent lad rock.

Scott’s songs convey candid tales of ordinary folk with a wry, acerbic wit via an eloquent, emotive, modern garage-pop aesthetic".

"[32] The Midnight Organ Fight also appeared in NMEs end-of year list at number thirty six,[33] as well as being included in their "Greatest Albums of the Decade" article.

The covers album was planned for release in Summer 2018, but the project was delayed following the death of Scott Hutchison, and came out in July 2019 with the title Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’.