The long wait for the Lovers' album was worth it. It's a sharply played and smartly penned collection of contemporary pop/rock---think of a brawnier version of Big Star...
-Chris Morris/Billboard

The towering debut from Philadelphia's Bigger Lovers is proof that delusions of indie-pop grandeur needn't be frontloaded with heaps of emasculated, self-absorbed baggage. Rarely has bald-faced nostalgia sounded so bracingly here-and-now.
-Hobart Rowland/CMJ Monthly

Sounds like everything missing from today's radio.
Alternative Press

It's a dazzling trove of glorious power-riffing, celestial harmonies, and the spunkiest, crunchiest melodies this side of Cherry Twister or the Shazam. Worth the wait.
Rob Hughes/Uncut

What ultimately distinguishes the Lovers, however, is not their knowledge of primordial pop-rock, but their ability to make old ploys sound fresh.
Mark Jenkins/Washington Post

With tangled harmonies and crunchy pop tempered by the occasional twang, plus production that favors diffuse reverb and instruments bleeding into each other, the Bigger Lovers are worthy of being listed with their obvious influences.
David Simutis/Philadelphia Weekly

With hooks that are as familiar as a worn copy of "Who's Next," the Bigger Loversmake radio-friendly pop that'll make you want to turn your radio up, not off.
Mike Kennedy/Philadelphia City Search

Mixing, say, Cheap Trick and Big Star with a bit of country and a raw, punky edge, their debut album, How I Learned to Stop Worrying is a deliciously off-kilter collection of hooks.
Philadelphia Magazine - Best of Philly 2001 issue

The Philadelphia band sounds like Big Star produced by Phil Spector on How I Learned to Stop Worrying, which speeds along like the group doesn't know the meaning of a bad time.
The Onion

All the obligatory Flaming Lips, Wilco, Cheap Trick, etc. references aside, How I Learned To Stop Worrying is a great big, ambitious rock record. Maybe even a little (dare I say it) brilliant.
Mark Jordan/The Commercial Appeal

Scott Jefferson and Bret Tobias posses a clear knack for the all-important hook.
Matt Hickey/Magnet

This album will grow on you - because just when you're ready to say "I've heard this all before," TBL surprise you with a well-crafted original hook… or two… or three.
Eric Sorenson/Amplifier

The explosive "Threadbare" is anything but, sounding like the Who if they recorded for Parasol instead of MCA. One of the nicest surprises of the year.
Bill Holmes/Pop Culture Press

It's the blurring of [the] pop-punk lines that How I Learned to Stop Worrying moves into post-modern, Move-era Jeff Lynne territory to stake a claim for rock n' roll's declining insularity. Finally.
Kurt Hernon/Devil in the Woods

How I Learned to Stop Worrying is a finely crafted communion of the classic era's pop touchstones: pre-Tommy Who, Brian Wilson, the Zombies, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Chris Bell-era Big Star
Creative Loafing

This kind of unassuming gem too often vanishes without a trace -- don't let it happen this time.
Glen Sarvady/Stomp & Stammer

Just as you start feeling that the pop revival is getting a bit stale and predictable, this top class release comes along and reinstates your faith in all things melodic.
Robin Wills/Bucket Full of Brains

There are plenty of big classic pop moments and guitar hooks on the album - from Big Star and early-era Who guitar chords, to the Badfinger-meets-Robyn Hitchcock singing and the Beachy "doo-do-do" choruses.
Ballard Lessman/Flagpole

While many '60s pop romanticists fail to see the strangulating studiousness of their output, the Bigger Lovers make it all seem as easy as Sunday morning.
Jason Bracelin/Cleveland Free Times

What's won me over, to the point where this disc just spins and spins in my car, are the Mamas & the Papas-style harmonies that kick in from time to time and the Wilson-inspired arrangements.
Gary Carra/Valley Advocate

(TBL's) implosion of emotion and white boy angst is coated with a British invasion-type veneer that works well.
Leslie Howson/Punchline

It rewrites the power-pop template outright… poised to become the sort of ragged, gem-like cult classic that inspired it in the first place
Stanton Swihart/All Music Guide

There isn't much else I can say about How I Learned to Stop Worrying. You need to hear it, it's that simple.
Tori Mazur/musicbeyondradio.com

What they do is a tight, catchy, and well-blended brand of rock that's definitely worth hearing. Thank goodness it found an outlet.
James Baumann/swizzle-stick.com

This four piece has a magic that pop-rock hasn't seen in years. A fine album that will hopefully gain the recognition it deserves.
Dennis Scanland/musicemmisions.com

How I Learned… just might be the slice of pop-rock brilliance the faithful cultists have been waiting for.
KH/bangsheet.com

It's a stunning album from start to finish, full of catchy melodies, Who-power chording, and harmonies that would make the Beach Boys proud. A band you must hear this year.
Don Krider/Power Pop News

Crank it up!
John Wenzel/sponiczine.com

How I Learned to Stop Worrying harks back to an older style of summer hit perfected by the Beach Boys in the early '60s, with a strain of languorous melancholy that perfectly recalls that humid late afternoons of the season.
Ryan Tranquilla/splendidezine.com

The Bigger Lovers exist at a crossroads where fiery guitars and crashing drums meet gorgeous melodies and delicate piano parts. It's a celebration.
Claudio Sossi/Shake it Up

It's powerful pop. But what it is, most of all, is just a really strong, melodic rock recording, a rare thing nowadays.
David Fufkin/popmatters.com