Kimbra was inspired by Greek mythology for the album and spent time in a small sheep farm in the middle of Los Angeles.

"I'd been caught up with all the Grammy and Gotye stuff happening, and the touring, the constant affirmation— or praise, or criticism, or self-reflection— everywhere," she said.

"[5] The cover and all the photographs of The Golden Echo's booklet were shot by Thom Kerr, who also directed the music video for "Miracle".

[6] The Golden Echo received generally positive reviews from critics.

On Metacritic, the album obtained a normalised score of 70 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 selected mainstream critics.