Sputnik Music said that the album "takes ageless topics such as identity, vices, and faith and makes them both deeply personal and widely universal" in its 4.5/5 star review.

[citation needed] Despite not being released as a promotional single, "Atlantis" was a major source of media attention for A Pillar of Salt, largely due to the fame of guest vocalist Phoebe Bridgers.

[4] KEXP, one of Seattle's largest public radio stations, called the album "a well-crafted set of brooding folk-pop with an atmospheric sound featuring acoustic and electric guitars, piano, haunting melodies and introspective lyrics.

The throwback troubadour of Ledges; the thoughtful intellectual of Carry the Ghost; the architect of all those big, bruising crescendos that drove White Noise; the pop polyglot of Lover.

"[6] Like much of his music, A Pillar of Salt depicts Gundersen's earnest ambivalence concerning spiritual issues, in spite of the aching consequences and worry this causes himself and his loved ones.