Smoke Ring for My Halo

After the first full-lineup tour the band recorded with Agnello, who also engineered and mixed with Jeff Zeigler, Ted Young and Rob Laakso; Greg Calbi mastered. Vile wanted a statement as a whole, more introspective and concise, and early trance-like Appalachian folk attempts were shelved; after label feedback that it lacked rockers, "Society Is My Friend" and "Puppet to the Man" were recorded last. He called it a general wandering feeling and kind of a wandering record. Mary Lattimore and Meg Baird are among the additional players.

It reached 154 on the Billboard 200 and 8 on Independent Albums. Metacritic scores it 82: Pitchfork gave 8.4, Spin 9 and NME 8, while Tiny Mix Tapes gave 2.5 of 5 and said it was the first time Vile seemed utterly unsure of himself. It was Spin's fourth album of the year, and NME's fifth.