a second single for the label, "don't slip up" and the debut album "songs of ignorance" followed. the album was described by andy gill in "the independent" as displaying "a warmth and charm to the group's jangly indie-pop that's entirely engaging", while the "nme"s april long said that it revealed "a canny aptitude not only for hook-laden guitar tricks but also story-telling", describing the band as "somewhere between the bucolic surrealism of super furry animals and the cerebral pop of xtc." the "sunday times" selected "cracking up" as one of the 'tracks of the year' at the end of 2001, describing it as "joyous, mad, brief. 2001's perfect pop song, from a great welsh band"; their review of "songs of ignorance" from may that year also described the track as "so ripe - it has three different choruses - and so joyous, it makes you want to tear your clothes off and run for the hills."