[3] The album features guest appearances by Phoebe Bridgers, Brandi Carlile, Clairo, and Monica Martin,[4] in addition to being produced by Blake Mills.

Even if you're already aware of the childhood abuse the singer suffered, and which inspired this collection songs, prior knowledge does little to prepare you for the visceral punch those words pack."

"[9] DIY's Emma Swann compares the album to Vegemite and Marmite, calling it "the same, but different", noting that "when [Mumford] strips it right back" such as on "Prior Warning", "Dangerous Game", and the beginning of "Cannibal", there's "a warm quality to his songwriting that seeps through."

But after "Cannibal", when "everything crashes, kitchen sink and all, as if years of headlining arenas trigger a fear response if too long passes before the 'epic' is switched on", we end up with an album which is "just Marcus leaving the kids at home for an evening, only to do the same exact thing just without a chorus of 'are we there yet', 'I'm bored', and 'well, actually...'"[10] NME's Elizabeth Aubrey notes "Only Child" as "skeletally acoustic" and "resembl[ing] a devastating Paul McCartney ballad in both sound and structure", while "Prior Warning" depicts Mumford's spiral into "alcoholism and a dangerous cycle of self-medication" with "solitary strings" and "Better Off High" tells of an intervention staged by his family "as recounted on the album's most unsettling and experimental track".

[13] Pitchfork's Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls the album "confounding", writing that "its strongest qualities as a record occasionally contradict the emotional thrust of the songs.