Two minutes and fifty-five seconds into the first track of The Holiday Costume’s self-titled album a strange and wonderful thing happens. While the rest of this track, "Crucified Again," teeters between feelings of resolve and bitterness, a single line of keyboard melody enters the song and it magically becomes the musical embodiment of pure joy. Its tone is buzzy and retro and personifies the keyboard as a simple little machine, singing its bloody heart out. The Holiday Costume take the fun guitar licks, tender lyrics, and love of melody of the Smiths. Then they do away with all the tiring, mopey poses of that genre by decorating their songs with moments like the trilling keyboard of "Crucified Again."

Vocalist Matt Wilczenski is a dead ringer for Morrissey’s heady singing style, especially during his performance of the lyrical ballad "Holly Man." Like the Smith’s former front man, Wilczenski favors the theme of heartache, but he seems much more at ease with his feelings on the subject. Instead of flogging himself, he charges ahead with hope and resolve. The band updates this sound with Brit-pop guitars, flange effects, campy backing vocals, dissonant chords and shimmering harmonics. While their songs may all comfortably fall into the mid-trot tempo range, their creation of a ride range of textures with guitar effects and keyboards keep the album far from monotony.