Compared to Bladee's previous work, Exeter is more hopeful and positive, has stripped-back production that usually contains no drums, and contains Auto-Tuned vocals.

[3] Later that year, Bladee released the mixtape Icedancer,[4] which was followed by 2019's Trash Island, a collaboration album with Drain Gang.

[7] Pitchfork's Ben Dandridge-Lemco wrote that the album pushes toward "blissful pop and strips down his lyrics to their most minimal extreme".

[9] Gölz thought that the album was probably inspired by Yves Tumor, Clams Casino, Hiroshi Yoshimura, or Brian Eno.

[9] Dandridge-Lemco highlighted the worldbuilding in Bladee's music, and thought that the album "sounds like a warped version of Mario's journey to save Princess Peach".

[6] "Merry-Go-Round" explores the boundaries of Bladee's life atop claps from a drum machine and "glowing synthetic notes".

Hubert Adjei-Kontoh from Pitchfork believed the production "creates an oddly analog effect" and that the track "gets behind Bladee's nihilism, where he hides the lyrical melancholy of a true romantic".

[6] "Every Moment Special" contains delicate synthesizers, drums that are slightly syncopated, and a "dreamy instrumental arrangement" according to Hypebeast's Charlie Zhang.

[13] Dandridge-Lemco thought that Bladee's influence on groups such as 100 gecs is shown on "DNA Rain", a song that has a glitchy and "angelic" sound.

[9] Dandridge-Lemco wrote that Exeter is the "sort of album that rewards you the closer you lean into it" in a positive review for Pitchfork.