A Black Mile to the Surface is an alternative rock and Americana record, interweaving a concept album set in a South Dakota mining town with reflections on Hull's young daughter.

[2] Following the release of the two albums, keyboard player Chris Freeman departed the band, leaving vocalist Andy Hull and guitarist Robert McDowell the only original members.

[7] Manchester Orchestra recorded A Black Mile to the Surface with "a small battery of well-known indie rock producers", among them Catherine Marks, John Congleton, and Jonathan Wilson, as well as longtime collaborator Dan Hannon.

[15][16] It began life as a concept album set in the mining town of Lead, South Dakota, the home of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).

[17] As the album developed, the South Dakota narrative began to interweave with Hull's complicated emotions about the birth of his daughter, and his associated feelings of life and death.

[19] While the first four tracks set "a light and dark theme", the narrative part of the record begins on "The Alien", which follows a boy from his childhood abuse into his adult life.

[6] Sonically, Hull and the rest of the band sought to divert from the "heavy, crunchy guitars" that marked other Manchester Orchestra releases.

The announcement was accompanied by the album's lead single, "The Gold", and a music video for the song, directed by Mike Dempsey and Johnny Chew.

[24] A Black Mile to the Surface was released on July 21, 2017, through Loma Vista Recordings and the band's own independent label Favorite Gentlemen.

[30] In a positive review for Alternative Press, Brian Shultz wrote that Manchester Orchestra "forge a newly lush, cinematic sound, unraveling detailed tales of characters with abstractly personal references", and highlighted the album's musicality: "Layers upon layers, from acoustic guitars to programmed beats, create a gorgeous and restrained, immersive landscape, culminating in beautifully serene moments like 'The Alien' and 'The Sunshine'.

[33] PopMatters writer Chris Ingalls remarked that the album's sound "doesn't derive from the airtight punk influences of decades past; rather, there's an anthemic, widescreen feel to nearly every song [...] inviting comparisons to altruistic, mid-period U2, or even Coldplay".

Club found that despite the band's stated intent to "strip back" their sound, "they seem to have gone in the opposite direction—with all the layering, samples, and shout-alongs, A Black Mile to the Surface is bombastic to the point of exhaustion".

"[37] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork, meanwhile, was critical of the album's storytelling elements, saying that the "more overtly personal material sits awkwardly among the familial drama that served as the original concept".