[2] Alongside Clockdust, Webb also announced three live performances, his first since 2003 (with Beth Gibbons) and his first as a solo artist.

[6] Writing for AllMusic, Heather Phares wrote that the album "leans into [Drift Code]'s antiqued, lived-in feeling and takes it in its own intriguing directions", and that "[Webb] is in a league of his own when it comes to making the most of music's time-traveling, spell-casting powers, and like Drift Code before it, Clockdust proves that Rustin Man's music has only grown richer and more rewarding over the years.

"[7] Chris White of musicOMH praised the album's "asymmetric rhythms and unconventional melodies", with comparisons to Syd Barrett and Tom Waits, and felt the album "hang[s] together in its own peculiar way", but "perhaps ultimately lacking the truly special, standout ingredients needed to elevate Webb’s solo work to the kind of rarefied levels he helped Talk Talk achieve.

"[8] Michael Sumsion of PopMatters described the album as "steeped in wyrd-folk aesthetics and animated by exotic and unexpected flourishes", and applauded it as "another cohesive, gripping, and quirky statement that possesses its distinct character and feels detached from the contemporary soundscape.

Other, higher-profile releases will command the lion's share of media noise in the coming months, but Clockdust is the sort of record whose myriad soothing charms and subtle depths will continue to resonate far beyond the click-bait.