Around about the time of the album's release, frontman Jason Lytle commented that the album "represents the closest I've been to singing in the first person, writing passionately".
Release
Sumday was released on May 13, 2003 by record label V2. The album is the group's highest charting in the UK, peaking at No. 22. By 2006, the album had sold 110,000 copies.
Singles
Three singles were released from the album: "El Caminos in the West", which reached No. 48 on the UK Singles Chart; "Now It's On", which reached No. 23; and "I'm on Standby". An expanded version of the album was released five months later, with a bonus disc of songs recorded live at the Glastonbury Festival in 2003 as well as three tracks taken from The Black Sessions in Paris.
Critical reception
The album was well received by music critics. PopMatters viewed the album as one where Lytle had decided to "tone down on the experimentation, and concentrate on developing some terrific melodies", calling it "really the next logical step for the band". He commented on similarities to the Alan Parsons Project, ELO and John Lennon, and noted an improvement in Lytle's songwriting. The CMJ New Music Report made it their 'essential release' in May 2003, calling it a "genuinely wholehearted work", and in their end-of-year review placed it at No. 7 in their list of the top albums of the year. Jim DeRogatis, in his book Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock, viewed the melodies as "even more effervescent and more memorable" than on The Sophtware Slump. Sophie Best ofThe Age called it "another sprawling sonic Grandaddy adventure, shimmering with wistful sincerity and rural-tinged psychedelia". NME gave it a grade of 8/10, writing that the songs sound "pretty much like Neil Young if he'd heard an Aphex Twin record". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a one-star honorable mention rating and cited "The Group Who Couldn't Say" and "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake" as highlights. A less favourable review came from Heather Phares of AllMusic, who described the record as being "bland and complacent", opining that it failed to live up to the expectations of The Sophtware Slump.
