one" but added that "sweetness gets monotonous, and the album could do with more jolts of bitter energy". PopMatters said that the band had become "comfortable with its craft" and that its stronger songwriting was reflected in the album's "leisurely melodic lines". Camera Obscura had previously been compared to Belle and Sebastian, another Glaswegian band, because of similarities in the bands' style of "melancholy, grandiose retro-styled" indie pop, and reviewers noted a new contrast between the two acts. Slant Magazine said that the album found "Camera Obscura stepping out from the considerable shadow cast by Stuart Murdoch and pals, brimming with a newfound confidence and a bolder, more ambitious sonic palette". Uncut wrote that while Belle and Sebastian were "seemingly lost to soft-pop pastichery, [Camera Obscura] have come out of their shadow and flourished." Pitchfork commented that the band had not changed significantly but that they "no longer recall Belle and Sebastian; they only sound like themselves." The NME wrote, "Now that Belle and Sebastian have left their whimsical ways behind, it's up to their fellow Glaswegians Camera Obscura to take up the cause of indie-popsters everywhere, and it's something they appear to be bang up for." AllMusic summarized Let's Get Out of This Country as "enchanting" and continued that "stepping fully out of the shadow of their onetime patrons Belle and Sebastian, the group has composed and performed an album that…ranks with the best indie pop albums ever". Pitchfork placed the album at 45 on its year-end list and at number 179 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s. PopMatters listed the album 60th on its list of the year's best albums, and it named Let's Get Out of This Country the second best indie pop album of the year. Stylus Magazine ranked the album 22 on its year-end list. In a retrospective of Merge Records, Paste named Let's Get Out of This Country the label's best 2006 release. Under the Radar ranked the album fourth in its list of the Best Albums of the Decade (2000–2009). Fact magazine listed the album at 93 on its 2000s list. Spanish independent label Elefant Records released the album worldwide, except for North America where it was licensed to Merge Records. Following the album's June release, Camera Obscura promoted it with a North American tour in July, followed by a series of performances at European festivals in August and