Moore praised O'Hara as knowing "poetry in all it's [sic] formalist glory and like John Cage's ear to music liberated it for writers for an unending time.

According to Moore, "if there's anything to be known about 'Empires of Time', know that it is a call of honor, and a kiss on the hallowed forehead, to Roky Erickson of Austin, Texas, a maestro of American psychedelic rock n roll of the highest order.

The band embarked on a twenty date tour of North America, beginning at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey on March 2 and concluding at The Sinclair in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 7, with Talk Normal, Merchandise, Grass Widow and Cave supporting.

The European leg of the band's tour began at Hulen in Bergen, Norway on June 7 and concluded at the Cactus Festival in Bruges, Belgium on July 12.

[19] Allmusic's Fred Thomas rated the album three and a half out of five stars and praised many of its features, describing it as "fun, huge, and pleasantly confused [...] but ultimately just another chapter in Moore's lifelong exploration of sound, poetry, and the darkest corners of American subcultures he helped build.

"[5] Ryan Bray of Consequence of Sound's review speculated upon the link between the album's sense of angst and Moore's then-recent separation from wife and Sonic Youth bandmate, Kim Gordon, stating "there's a volatile undercurrent to the songs [...] It's easy to suspect that Moore's personal ups and downs had a hand in shaping the album's terse temperament, and the record affirms the sleeping art school brat that's always burned inside him."

"[22] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, August Brown criticized Chelsea Light Moving as the work of "high-minded musicians doing some dumb, brawny lifting [...] [a] low-stakes, punky project [that] sounds like it was written in an afternoon," although rated the album two and a half out of four stars.

[23] Pitchfork was similarly critical, with reviewer Aaron Leitko writing that "the record seems like a conscious attempt for Moore to get back to serious shredding, to move away from introspection and toward the immediate thrill of pummel and screech.

"[26] However, NME reviewer Louis Pattison Kory praised the album's "slanted alt-rock chugs, spat-out beat poetry and songs about counterculture icons", rating it seven out of ten.

Writing for Tiny Mix Tapes, Clifford Allen awarded Chelsea Light Moving three and a half out of five stars and noted that "the quartet seem to be looking through a number of related ways to assert themselves within the construct of a noisy rock band — all engaging and memorable, but none definitive.