Music like Molly Nilsson

We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves is the third album by American lo-fi musician John Maus, released on June 27, 2011. Its title is derived from French philosopher Alain Badiou's "Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art". Maus said that he wrote the album in a "search for the perfect pop song". Upon release, the album was met with generally favorable reviews, a contrast from the reception of Maus' earlier work. Three singles were issued from the album: "Quantum Leap", "Believer" and "Hey Moon".

After the release of Maus' first two albums, which generally drew negative reviews upon release, he was awarded a scholarship to study political philosophy at the University of Hawaii, where he had a day job as a lecturer. In the evenings, he continued working on music from his office. In 2009, Maus relocated from Hawaii to a secluded cabin in Minnesota, where he struggled to write material for a third album. He said that he eventually gave up, and instead began "doing lots of chemistry projects and chromatography experiments. I set myself on fire a few times heating inflammable solvents." Meanwhile, he continued his studies at the European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland and earned his master's degree. He did not live in Switzerland, "but would go out there in the summers. It's like that Black Mountain thing that they did over here years ago, where they bring out all of the heavy hitters and you can study with them yourself."