Departing from the dance-pop R&B of Solange's debut album Solo Star (2002), Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams was marketed toward the "intellectual, backpacking, coffee shop, digital" youth audience, as described by her record label.

"[14] Although Solange had previously worked with a wide range of high-profile producers and songwriters on earlier projects, she struggled to convince her wishlisted musicians to contribute to Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, production-wise.

Familiar, Lamont Dozier, production teams Soulshock & Karlin and Bama Boyz, as well as singers and rappers Pharrell Williams, Bilal, Q-Tip and Lil Wayne respectively.

[22] Leading up to its release, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams featured promotional photography of Solange in an array of costumes and wigs that evoke late 1960s and early 1970s fashion styles.

The record companies of its release, Geffen and Music World Entertainment, aimed at an "intellectual, backpacking, coffee shop, digital kid" audience in promoting the album.

[24] Reviewing the album in The Village Voice, Rob Harvilla called it "bizarrely mesmerizing" and said that the idiosyncratic and unconventional lyrics of some songs invite "inexplicable but highly favorable comparisons to Kate Bush.

)"[57] Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe referred to the album as a "smartly executed, classy set of songs that's miles away from the hoochie pop being turned out by young female R&B vocalists these days".

Music called Sol-Angel a "fine, rich and extremely likeable record",[60] and Francis Jones from Hot Press found Solange's singing "sassy and assured".

[61] Andy Kellman of AllMusic cited it as "one of the year's more entertaining and easily enjoyable R&B releases" and found it "fun, silly, slightly eccentric and, most importantly, fearless", with most of the songs "soaked in bouncing pop-soul".

In MSN Music, Robert Christgau gave the album an "honorable mention" and deemed Solange "privilege's child" who "runs through her options" in a defiant but frothy manner, while naming "Would've Been the One" and "I Decided" as highlights.

[62] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian called its music "savvy R&B with a gloss you can check your reflection in", but ultimately observed "a lack of both memorable tunes and the steely spined ardour that makes Beyoncé so compelling.

"[1] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was ambivalent towards its use of sampling on certain songs, but praised "the mix of organic, old-school instrumentation and more electronic elements", which he felt make it "a loose, fun and reverent record.