After a year of jamming together, Come released the 12-inch single "Car" on Sub Pop in 1991 – a seven-minute epic in the post-punk, blues-noir style of The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls, and The Gun Club. According to Spin magazine, "Car" was "two-song seven-inch that delivers all the satisfaction of, let's say, the definitive Hendrix box set." This release encapsulated what was to become Come's trademark style: thematically dark, emotionally intense, and lengthy songs marked by Zedek's distressed vocals, abrupt rhythms, and the tension-filled guitar interplay between Zedek and Brokaw, both extraordinarily accomplished guitarists. Even before the release of its first album, the band received much critical praise, with Spin magazine stating that "[the band is ferocious, bending a head-on adrenaline rush into a staggering blues crawl, churning noise-damage into aching melody, and letting it fall apart", adding that Come was "ot just another band from Boston," but rather "poised on the brink of the big time."