Musically, Dear You has been mainly described as emo, pop-punk, and punk rock. It has also been tagged as alternative rock, indie rock, and grunge, though Chris Norris of Spin discounted the latter, including it on a list of albums that were marketed as grunge despite not being so.Norris 2004, p. 63 Schwarzenbach's vocals evoked Morrissey,Knight Ridder 1995, p. B10 while the band were compared to the work of Green Day, Jawbox and Nirvana. Songs from earlier albums, such as "Bivouac" from Bivouac and "Conditional Oakland" from 24 Hour Revenge Therapy hinted at the gloomy direction that the band would explore on "Accident Prone" and "Jet Black". Givony said these two tracks evoked the work of Built to Spill, Spiritualized and Swervedriver instead of the Jawbreaker that made their debut album Unfun (1990) or 24 Hour Revenge Therapy.Givony 2020, p. 160 Dear You returned to the darker tone of Bivouac, though without that album's ambitious songwriting.
