[5] The lead single "Sugar" had been released in March that year, followed by "TVI" in July, "Lost Honor" in August, and "Self Portrait" in September.

[8][6][9] Oliver Heffron of The Nuance Magazine said Surf Curse "hit their stride" with the album, describing the stylistic shifts as "an exciting development".

[5] Vidal N. Granados of Quip, reflecting on a Surf Curse's concert performance after the album's release, commented that Magic Hour's tracks had a "much slower" pace than the band's earlier works and had new dynamics introduced by Kholl and Dillon.

[10] Landry Wood of The Rice Thresher commented that the album's opener, "Arrow", could "dupe" listeners into expecting more music like that off Surf Curse's 2017 Nothing Yet.

Instead, Wood said the album was "an evolution that doesn't go quite far enough to be a reinvention" and praised "Fear City" as "refreshing sound with creative lyrics, a rarity for Rattigan.