Magnet (6-7/00, p.70) - "...An unlikely heir to Big Star's THIRD, Violent Femmes' first and the whole Mark Eitzel catalog....borrowing tasteful playing, ambitious production and some of the nicest microphones the boys could get their hands on..."
CMJ (7/00, p.49) - "...A superb album, articulate and powerful on the subject of teenage heartbreak and self-loathing, and played...with confidence and subtlety..."
Melody Maker (7/22/00, p.52) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Spine-shivering....it'll make you break out into a thousand gruesome goosebumps....the diary of traumatised soul..."
NME (Magazine) (7/8/00, p.27) - 7 out of 10 - "...A godsend for connoisseurs of raging f***-ups and the dubious benefits of a Catholic education....this is a tragicomedy that manages to be oddly affecting even at its most outlandish."
Bright Eyes: Connor Oberst (vocals, guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, keyboards, percussion, samples); Andy Lemaster (vocals, guitar, Mellotron, bass, percussion); Mike Mogis (acoustic & electric guitar, pedal steel, E-bow, mandolin, piano, organ, keyboards, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tambourine, electronics); Jiha Lee (flute); Tim Kasher (accordion); A.J. Mogis (piano); Todd Baechle (keyboards); Matt Maginn (bass); Joe Knapp (drums, percussion); Clint Schnase (drums).
Recorded at Dead Space, Lincoln, Nebraska in December 1999.