"[1] Cronin has named the songwriters Jason Molina, Nick Drake, Chan Marshall and Jeff Mangum, and the poets Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Frank Stanford and Sara Nicholson as influences.
"[1] Gabe Vodicka, writing in Flagpole Magazine, singles out "The Unnatural" for praise and described the album's other songs as "both beautiful and terrifying—abstract stories of personal victory set against a sea of apocalyptic imagery.
"[3] Sodomsky noted that the album strikes a "balance between tenderness and terror, the supernatural and the quotidian" and praised "Wolfman" as a high point, describing it as "a slow, menacing ballad sung with the devotion of a love song.
"[3] Writing for Talkhouse, Sam Woodring wrote that Big Dread Moon "betrays a strong knack for narrative, pacing, and imagery, probably indebted to her other artistic endeavor as a writer" and noted that Cronin's vocals "dart around in a way that builds suspense not only for what she is about to say, but for how she may or may not buckle her words into pitch-perfect severed parts.
[8] Reviewing the album in God Is in the TV, Trev Elkins described it as "more real, personal and direct" in its examination of fear and sorrow than Big Dread Moon, but noted that it also contains moments of humor, as well as "beautiful, melancholic rawness and cautionary tales".