Condon stated that "the few hours of light would expose the unfathomable beauty of the mountains and the fjords, and the hours-long twilights would fill me with subdued excitement.

[7] Lewis Wade, reviewing the album for The Skinny, felt that the "songs are delivered with Condon's typically layered touch, his voice as yearning and ephemeral as usual.

There are some new ideas, along with the aforementioned organ [...] but the palette will be dependably comfortable to long-time fans, and these songs fit snugly alongside previous material".

[9] Glide Magazine's Ryan Dillon stated that "for 12 mind-altering tracks that lean on gentle ambiance to deliver warm tones and soaring melodies, Condon brings you to the moment right before the underdog gets the victory for an emotional rollercoaster of a comeback LP".

[11] Ben Cardew of Pitchfork remarked that "the note of surprise on Hadsel [...] is not so much that Zach Condon has recorded an album on a remote Norwegian island with free access to a church organ, it's that he hasn't done so before", calling it "a new beginning for Beirut that sounds like old times, a record born of despair and solitude that still feels full of life".