[2][3] He experienced "tremendous" and "all-consuming" ear pain and extreme sound sensitivity, and was ultimately diagnosed with tinnitus, hyperacusis and cochlear hydrops (a rare form of Ménière's disease).

[18][19][21] Moments of silence on the album are populated by nature field recordings primarily from Silberman's upstate New York home, including crickets, cicadas and wind.

[1] Chris White of musicOMH wrote, "For a band who made their name playing epically sad, often emotionally traumatic songs, Green to Gold sounds positively sunny and mellow in comparison.

[22][21] The songs on Green to Gold feature "slow-building cascades of instrumentation"[23] which develop "hypnotic" rhythms centered around guitars, piano,[11] and Silberman's breathy[24] and "eased" falsetto.

[25] There are occasional brass and strings arrangements,[10] including bass clarinet on "Wheels Roll Home"; violin and viola on "Solstice"; cello on "Stubborn Man"; banjo on "Just One Sec" and "Volunteer"; slide guitar by Dave Harrington on "Just One Sec"; and baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet and French horn by Kelly Pratt on "It Is What It Is".

[26] Guia Cortassa of The Quietus wrote, "The constant sense of apnoea and claustrophobia saturating all his previous work is gone, leaving space for a rediscovered breathing".

[20] The album's themes center around ageing[10] and the "unstoppable force of change"[18] as they relate to the limitations of the human experience in the natural world.

[21] The album celebrates the process of "going home, overcoming stubbornness, transitioning from one season to the next, leaving behind the old as a natural way of shedding the past".

[13] Silberman opted for a more direct approach on Green to Gold; the album documents two years in his life, taking inspiration from conversations with his friends and partner.

It doesn't make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I'm sure our audience does too.

[34][35] On November 16, 2021, the band announced a Spring 2022 tour in support of the album, originally set to begin in March 2022 in Europe and extending to June 2022 in North America.

[39] Fred Thomas of AllMusic wrote, "Green to Gold reshapes the Antlers' once somber and brooding chamber pop into something bright and smiling.

[21] John Aizlewood, in his review for Mojo, wrote, "There's real beauty here and Silberman marries eventual accessibility with gentle boundary-pushing to create his own, thoughtful world".

[20] Katherine Rodgers of The Line of Best Fit praised the horns arrangements on "It Is What It Is" and the piano on "Porchlight", but lamented the lack of "angst" in Silberman's lyrics which characterized previous Antlers releases.

[19] Chris White of musicOMH felt the album lacked "any truly standout songs" like Hospice's "Epilogue" or Burst Apart's "Putting the Dog to Sleep", but concluded "it's still a sumptuously crafted, warmly atmospheric and often beautiful work from The Antlers, proving that Silberman remains one of America's most gifted, emotionally intelligent songwriters".

[11] Jordan Walsh of Slant Magazine gave the album a 3.5 out of 5 star rating, criticizing the "lack of intensity" for allowing the songs to "sink into the background a little too easily".

[16] The Antlers Additional personnel On November 16, 2021, the band released an EP titled Losing Light, which features reimagined versions of four songs from Green to Gold.

The reimagined versions on Losing Light also take into consideration the potential technological advancements of the future as well as the effects of analog and digital degradation.