After gaining a small following with 1999's Don't Wake Me Up, frontman Phil Elverum recorded It Was Hot at Dub Narcotic Studio in Olympia, Washington, between September 1999 and March 2000.

Following its 2013 reissue, the album was critically reappraised, receiving positive reviews from PopMatters, Consequence of Sound, and Treblezine.

[2]: 233  As a result of Don't Wake Me Up, Elverum gained a small audience,[3] and K Records came to trust his musical abilities increasingly.

[7][2]: 233  The album was recorded on analog tape, which made re-recording takes difficult; this, in turn, led Elverum to eschew perfectionism.

[8] When Elverum began working on the songs that would eventually make up It Was Hot, he intended to release them individually, but after recording about half of the tracks, he realized that they were better suited for a full-length album.

[8] While the album's liner notes do not distinguish individual contributions, Elverum later stressed that, in terms of writing credit, "there was definitely a sense of collaboration.

According to Elverum, the album's lyrics were inspired by the poetic nature and mysteriousness of the works by American singer-songwriter Will Oldham.

[9] During recording, Elverum frequently visited the Westport, Washington, area, which led many of the songs to focus on the ocean, lakes, and swimming.

[13][12] LeMay also wrote, "despite the dissonance and the atypical song structure, the track never breaks down into complete anarchy".

[13] "The Gleam" is a pop song filled with noisy audio feedback; Elverum's vocals are barely audible amid the noise.

In Heather Phares of AllMusic's undated[b] review, she said the band presents "delicate, almost folky melodies wrapped up in and surrounded by waves of droning, distorted guitars, and organs".

[16] Phares compared tracks from the album to those of other artists, but affirmed that the band's similarities "feel like tributes", not plagiarism.

[24] Sputnikmusic's joshuatree reviewed the album in 2008, praising its "unpredictable nature", and called it Phil Elverum's second-best work, after The Glow Pt.

"[15] Spectrum Culture's Joe Clinkenbeard described the album as similar to Elverum's other work in that it "thrives on chaos, quiet and in juxtaposing the two".

[4] Pearson wrote, "[the album] is a study in subjection and liberation, crossing through warmed tides to ice and back again.

"[4] According to Daniel Mescher of Colorado Public Radio, the album is "widely regarded as [an] indie pop classic".

[10] Patrick Lyons of Stereogum reviewed the album in 2020, comparing "The Pull"'s guitar to the opening of Microphones in 2020, then newly-released.

[13] According to Patrick Lyons of Stereogum, It Was Hot "lacks the vast scope and deep emotional core of its follow-up" but it "unfairly lived in the shadow" of The Glow Pt.