"With Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of..., Bird reimagines ten Handsome Family songs, recreating them in his own, often more classical-leaning image. Gone are the Sparks' rougher edges, replaced by an elegance and reverence that elevates these very live-sounding, intimate performances and simultaneously reshapes the lyrical context. With Bird's choir-boy tenor, previously dark lyrics delivered in Brett's low rumble suddenly take on a new light; no longer earth-bound, they scale swirling heights that give each new life, imbuing them with a new sense of purpose, a beauty within which it is easy to get lost".