Packs spent three weeks rehearsing and recording the album at Casa Pulpo in Xalapa, Mexico in March 2023; frontwoman Madeline Link had previously done an artist residency in the country in 2020.

[2] Marcy Donelson of AllMusic found it to be "still fractured and generally discombobulated, but the subject matter is a bit lighter and the vibe more copacetic than previous releases" and wrote that Madeline Link has "a sharp ear for hooks, quirky phrasing tendencies, and visceral, spontaneous-sounding accompaniment".

[3] Paste's Grace Ann Natanawan wrote that the album "sonically smooths out the edges while retaining Packs' trademark lo-fi grit", finding it to be "evident that the band is set on continually experimenting with their sound".

[5] MusicOMH's John Murphy stated that while Link's "talent is in making the mundane seem compelling", "sometimes it all feels a bit too laidback for its own good" as "you get the impression that Packs as a band are still figuring out their sound".

[4] Pitchfork's Zach Schonfeld wrote that on Melt the Honey, "Link squeezes out lazily hooky, lo-fi bangers as likely to draw lyrical inspiration from 19th-century literary arcana as from her personal life".