Singles Breaking Up is a collection of Don Caballero's five seven inches, a compilation track, and one previously unreleased song. This collection shows Don Caballero's astounding growth in both complexity and effectiveness. The early songs go back as far as 1992 and rely more on the dirtier sounds of a distorted guitar than the band's recent efforts, which explore more experimental time changes and guitar textures. Don Caballero's ongoing challenge is to make up for its lack of vocals. The result is a deconstruction of the Western idea of song structure with two guitars, a bass, and a drum kit. This is a seemingly limited format, but Don Caballero rises to the occasion with fervent emotion and cunning.

Drummer Damon Che’s acrobatic style more than earns him the right to his nickname, Octopus, and, likewise, Ian Williams and Mike Banfield are just as flexible with their guitars, which surge and pummel along with Che but can stop and change direction on a dime. Such rhythmical dynamics keep things interesting without sounding too forced or showy. Don Caballero's forte is its ability to take difficult music and make it emotional. The band reaches staggering crescendos through both aggression and restraint. Singles Breaking Up is a good "catch up" piece for a band that you need to be on the same level with to reap all the rewards.