Barnett improvised the album alongside drummer Stella Mozgawa as they watched director Danny Cohen's final edit of Anonymous Club.

[1] While originally conceived as the score to the 2021 biographical documentary film Anonymous Club that followed Barnett, the album was reworked to form a single piece of music.

[3] Uncut commented that the album is "held together by a unifying drone" and a "welcome if unusual addition to Barnett's catalogue",[6] while The Line of Best Fit's Amaya Lim stated that while Barnett "previously depended on frank and revealing lyrical turns to convey emotion, she here demonstrates that she can do the same with only her instrument" and "proves that she is a master at her craft, striking gold again with her new foray into scoring".

[2] Mojo wrote that "in places it verges on doodling, as if Barnett is endlessly tuning her guitar, but tracks such as Intro or Tiver sound darkly majestic, like deep, drifting hollowed-out Americana".

[4] Logan Walker of The Skinny felt that "as a standalone record, End of the Day does not always justify its existence.