With this release, Anderson attempted to move away from her previous image as a performance artist into a more musical realm.

One of the songs on this album, "The Dream Before" (also known as "Hansel and Gretel Are Alive and Well") had been introduced several years earlier in her short film What You Mean We?

Publications such as the Rolling Stone Album Guide noted Anderson's pivot to a more "musical approach" that relied more on singing than talking.

[3] Robert Christgau of Village Voice gave Strange Angels an A rating and said that the album contained her most "mellifluous music she's ever recorded.

[7] In lieu of filming a standard music video to promote the album, Anderson instead taped a series of 60-second "Personal Service Announcements" in which she humorously discussed the economy and American culture.