The album was recorded with producer and TV on the Radio guitarist Dave Sitek, as well as regular Wolfe collaborators Ben Chisholm, Bryan Tulao, and Jess Gowrie.

It consists primarily of electronica, with significant influence of trip hop, gothic rock, and industrial music, and was mainly inspired by Wolfe achieving sobriety in January 2021.

[1] Wolfe also noted the inspiration of seeing a friend leave a toxic relationship of 30 years and learning how to live on their own again,[1] and musical influences including the Depeche Mode album Violator, Nine Inch Nails, and Tricky.

[1] When asked for ten songs that influenced the album, Wolfe named Depeche Mode's "Waiting for the Night", the Smashing Pumpkins's "Daphne Descends", Björk's "Bachelorette", Madonna's "Frozen", Nine Inch Nails's "The Hand That Feeds", Massive Attack's "Teardrop", Low's "Rome (Always in the Dark), Radiohead's "Where I End and You Begin, TV on the Radio's "Staring at the Sun", and Lhasa de Sela's "Anywhere on This Road".

[5] Consequence declared it the Heavy Song of the Week, with Jon Hadusek calling it "genre-defying" and saying it "deserves to be heard on a good set of speakers or headphones.

[18] Uncut's Johnny Sharp wrote that while Wolfe "tries too hard" with opener "Whispers in the Echo Chamber", her "talent for a melodramatic hook wins through" on "Tunnel Lights" and "Everything Turns Blue".

's Sam Law said the album "may be the most creatively adventurous of her career", and called it "a promise that as brilliantly beguiling as Chelsea Wolfe has always been, her big picture is still coming into focus".

[14] The Line of Best Fit's Greg Hyde wrote that "it is clear when listening to the album after learning of Wolfe's intended vision for it that she has executed it greatly", and said that "fans of artists as disparate as Converge and Tricky should love it".

"[19] In a less positive review, PopMatters's Adriane Pontecorvo wrote that "while [Wolfe's] disparate choices of canvas give us a bumpy ride, it's one worth taking in good faith.

[31][32] Wolfe previously performed her version of "Cellar Door" on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show, to which Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante responded approvingly.