Similarly, "the New Yorker" reviewed their debut album and praised it for its "crusading horn section and...fine guitar playing." Another review appeared in the "Tucson Weekly", and recommended that the reader buy the album "if you read and loved "A Confederacy of Dunces" or "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"...especially if you're having a bad day." The reviewer, Linda Ray, also described the album's songs as "...a collection of intelligently observant and wryly amusing pop/rock/punk takes on gender politics." Robert Christgau reviewed their debut album and gave it an A–, writing that "Some of these songs are funny, the rest very funny." Like their debut album, "Happier than You" was also reviewed by "PopMatters", where Stephen Haag gave the album a score of 4 out of 10. He also criticized the album for being inferior to their debut album, and said that it "mines the same territory—clever people writing songs about sex and relationships, backed by big guitars and, uh, four hornsmen—though to much lesser effect." Robert Christgau reviewed this album and was more favorable, giving it an A– and writing that Mickenberg "sings the way [Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain] talks--only she can carry a tune and use her brain." In describing this album, NPR wrote that the band makes music that's "irreverent to some, but hilarious to others."