I was just confused by the way you structured that sentence. You implied that The Stand Ins did not stand up to other post (meaning after) Stage Names albums, when it is the only post-Stage Names album. But I get what you are saying now and I can understand feeling that way. The Stand Ins is so wonderful to me because I have always been a bigger fan of their more rock-oriented songs ("Black" being my favorite not to mention the first song that made me pay attention to them, and the first three tracks of The Stage Names being incredibly pleasing to listen to in one run). The lyrical content is also superb as ever, being both piercingly insightful and worryingly self-reflective for the band. Even the little instrumental tracks between tracks are great, as they repeat themes from other parts of the album and tie them all together in a very neat, flowing and even cyclical fashion--with the closing song being bookended by the last and first of those tracks, both of which explore progressions common to each other and said song, putting the album on repeat makes for one long, uninterrupted experience. I've probably listened to the album over fifty, maybe near a hundred times this way, so... yeah.
