"The self-described "poor man's Traveling Wilburys" features members of Franz Ferdinand, Grandaddy, Band of Horses, Travis, and Midlake in an effort to collectively seize upon their best traits ... BNQT (pronounced "banquet") is not a push outside the comfort zone for those involved, but further indication of restlessness from a collection of indie rock lifers, each of whose primary acts made their dent in the blog-rock boom and find their relevance dimming. At that, the optimistically titled Volume 1 serves more to elaborate on its characters than it does to recapture past glory".