The song was released digitally for free on July 21, 2014 through the cable network Adult Swim's 2014 weekly singles series.

[2] Adult Swim approached the band about releasing a new song as a part of its weekly singles series, and Sleep wrote "The Clarity" in "a couple days" separate from the other new material it had been working on.

Writing for NPR, Lars Gotrich wrote: "It captures Sleep at its heaviest and weediest, and despite the puff of smoke that pervades these 10 minutes, it's the band's cleanest-sounding recording.

"[2] Colin Joyce writing for Spin wrote: "Built, like many of the band's best tracks, around Cisneros' thunderous, distorted basslines and the bleary haze of Pike's Tony Iommi indebted guitar snarls, 'The Clarity' hearkens straight back to the drone-y, stone-y tunes that the band was working on when they were teenagers.

"[3] Writing for Exclaim!, Josiah Hughes wrote: "'The Clarity' is a heavy journey through meaty riffs, mid-tempo drums and plenty of drug references.