Recorded over a two-year period at six studios throughout Europe, A Winged Victory for the Sullen features extensive use of natural reverb and combines classical instrumentation with soundscapes and drones.

[3] "Minuet for a Cheap Piano Number One", an outtake from the sessions for A Winged Victory for the Sullen, was included as a track on the duo's succeeding extended play, Atomos VII (2014).

Dustin O'Halloran sought out a selection of nine-foot grand pianos–including a 1950s imperial Bösendorfer piano and a handmade Fazioli–and performed in these spaces to "deliver extreme sonic low end".

Adam Wiltzie's "drifting guitar washed melodies" were also noted as juxtaposing the more-traditional instrumentation, such as cello, violin, viola, harp, French horn and bassoon.

[9] Christina Vantzou, a composer and filmmaker with whom Adam Wiltzie had previously formed The Dead Texan, provided the illustration Nips and Lips as the front cover art.

[10] In support of the album's release, A Winged Victory for the Sullen underwent a 13-date North American tour, beginning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 29 October 2011 and concluding on 15 November in Los Angeles, California.

[16] BBC Music's David Sheppard called the album a "meditative and cinematic set" that "is a victory for subtlety [and] sensitivity" and "rich in melody", praising in particular its "genuinely haunting, numinous atmosphere".

[9] In a four-and-a-half-out-of-five review in Tiny Mix Tapes, Max Power called A Winged Victory for the Sullen "thorough and deeply felt music", concluding: "composed by two musicians at the height of their craft, the album reveals itself, thus far, as the apex of a limited genre still forming and as one of our finest contemporary acts of remembrance and ascension.

"[20] Mojo awarded the album four-of-out-five stars, calling it "an immersive, and inevitably cinematic, ambient gem",[19] while Uncut rated it eight out of ten and said it was "another triumph for the post-classical scene".