The album was recorded over a period of two years at Carey's home and at Justin Vernon's studio during breaks from touring with Bon Iver.

[10] Carey has cited Justin Vernon, Megafaun, Bowerbirds, A.A. Bondy, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Feist, and Sigur Rós as some of his major inspirations for All We Grow.

[10] Alongside the drums, guitar, and piano, one can hear oboe, timpani, viola, xylophone, upright bass, flute, and saxophone.

The AllMusic review by Ned Raggett awarded the album 3.5 stars stating "If anything, All We Grow further suggests an Upper Midwest of the mind, with the Wisconsin-based Carey creating pieces like "Move" and "In the Dirt" that aren't so much songs as ambient meditation as they are songs as quietly dramatic atmospherics—one almost wants to imagine the album being the sonic setting for a movie or a short story with fresh snow against a slate-gray sky.

Meanwhile, the hints of the obsessive minimalism drawing on his educational background can readily be heard in the brisk, immediate piano parts of "We Fell" and "In the Stream," where the rhythms are provided by keys rather than drums (themselves notable for their near complete absence from the album, though the percussive touches on "Action" add much to the song's building conclusion)...