writer Dave de Sylvia said "in recent years, [Gainesville has] become a hotbed for property development as generic suburbia replaces the individual character the city used to possess". In the album's liner notes, the band thank the city, calling it: "the town that inspired the record." DeMakes and Lima wrote ideas acoustically for the album on their bus while touring; the pair would have a rough outline for a song, which the rest of the band then worked on. They left sections for horns that JR and Schaub would try to write some parts around these at the latter's house before showing the other members. DeMakes states that they came up with a "quintessential Less Than Jake record" and that the album includes "lots of horns and lots of vocals." Fiorello said they "wanted to make a record that had the urgency of earlier records but with tighter production". In a later interview, Fiorello considered it to be his least favorite Less Than Jake album. "I think I look at it as a transition record. [...] it was in the winter and my focus was a bit dark on the lyrical side. [...] I just feel the overall production is stiff and dark. [...] It was tribute to the state of Florida. I focused a lot on the darker side of what Florida has, instead of the good things. I concentrated on drug dealers and tourists and real estate scams and trailer parks and transients." Andrew Welsh of Daily Record said it was "[e]ssentially a concept album, GNV FLA turns the microscope on the seamier side of life in the Jakesters’ sun-kissed backyard". Musically, the sound of GNV FLA has been described by Apar as ska punk, reminiscent of the band's third studio album, Hello Rockview (1999). Alex Young of Consequence of Sound referred to it as a pop-punk album where ska "only shines through a fraction". Apar said DeMakes and Lima "seamlessly switch off on vocals as driving power chords and sunny ska riffs alternately cut through hammering drumbeats, and high-spirited horns punch their way through it all". Some tracks, such as "Does the Lion City Still Roar?" and "This One Is Going to Leave a Bruise", lean on the punk side of ska punk. The lyrics touch on drunk nights, frustrations and time spent doing nothing. Fiorello said with the album he wished to "create a small movie