Writing for BrooklynVegan, Andrew Sacher writes about the diversity of the sounds on The Whaler as they "recall... anything from Neutral Milk Hotel to Fugazi to pageninetynine, often within the same song" and the lyrics are "about subject matter that feels real and authentic and depressing and I'd imagine it's widely relatable to anyone that's given up hope for a better world".

[2] A discussion of the album track-by-track in Consequence of Sound has author Jonah Kreuger characterizing the musical diversity as "frantically jump[ing] around different tempos, genres, and volumes, resulting in danceable sing-alongs fit for the apocalypse".

[3] Paste's Natalie Marlin gave this album an 8.0 out of 10, writing that this release "excels when it feels like Home Is Where are at its slipperiest as a band, conjuring something capable of breaking beyond a simple genre signifier".

[4] On June 19, that magazine ranked the best albums of the year so far, placing this at eleventh for "MacDonald’s commanding howls and yelps, alongside her jagged lyrical descriptiveness, that anchor each maneuver, complemented by guitarist Tilley Komorny’s fluid shifts in accentuating every disparate narrative".

[5] Stereogum named The Whaler Album of the Week, with critic Ian Cohen noting the depth of the lyrics, discussion personal and political themes and writing that the music has "a whimsy that turns both surly and surreal".