[1] Sharp began listening to artists such as Anne Briggs, Shirley Collins and The Young Tradition as a result and eventually recorded demos of songs influenced by folk music and Captain Beefheart after moving back to Bedfordshire following a period of living in London.

[11] Giving Tidings a score of 6.4 out of 10, Pitchfork's Zach Kelly lamented the addition of so many interludes, which he characterised as "field recordings or outtakes of aimless strumming, strange whirrings, and drunken ramblings",[4] among album highlights, such as the "crunchy slab of drug-rock steeped in mystic imagery" "Black Water",[4] and "Cotton Strands", which he compared to Love.

[4] Kelly also singled out "Untitled"; "Empty Heart", which he likened to the music of T. Rex; and the "wild, noodly groover" "October Fires" with its "sweaty honky-tonk rhythm, harmonica, and punchy guitar details"; for praise.

[10] In contrast with Zach Kelly, Reidy stated that she felt the musical interludes added character to the album and helped it achieve an "unexpectedly complete, avant-garde reimagining of 60s and 70s psychedelic rock" reminiscent of the tapes pictured on its cover art.

[15] Writing for the NME, Emily Mackay awarded the album three and a half stars out of five, claiming that it was "just odd enough to escape period-piece pastiche" and that the band's mix of different styles and musical eras made them akin to a "UK version of White Denim".

[16] musicOMH's Gideon Brody gave Steeple three stars out of five, stating that, while the album felt more "potent" than the works of bands such as Ocean Colour Scene and Kula Shaker, who he thought were similarly in debt to the psychedelic blues-rock music of the past, it was lacking in creativity.

[17] Mojo's Will Hodgkinson found similarities between Steeple's and the music of the "post-psychedelic, pre-progressive rock" period and claimed that Sharp's vocals reminded him of "Traffic-era Steve Winwood", while the album's lyrics recalled "the menace of the British Countryside in the manner of 70's horror movies".

[18] Uncut's Peter Watts also gave the record four stars out of five, likening Wolf People to both Jethro Tull and contemporaneous Canadian rock band Black Mountain, and selecting the "elegantly ragged boogie" of "Castle Keep" as Steeple's best song.

[20] Kealy went on to compare "Silbury Sands" to "The Black Keys taking on the Moody Blues or Pentangle" and claimed that the "funky flute riff" of "Tiny Circles" was an "unlikely but astounding addition" and made the album.

[21] Julia Reidy gave the record three and a half stars out of five in her review for Tiny Mix Tapes, stating that while it has a "completeness to it, a reassuring wholeness even when things get loud or wild or weird", Steeple "errs on the side of monotony" in "sticking firmly to its take on authentic psychedelia" in contrast with previous album Tidings, which she felt was more adventurous and exotic sounding.

[13] In his four-star-out-of-five review for Classic Rock, Scott Rowley claimed that Steeple was a "late contender for album of the year", picking out "Tiny Circle", "One by One From Dorney Reach" and "Banks of Sweet Dundee" as the record's highlights and likening Wolf People to the Incredible String Band, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Fairport Convention.

[30] Thompson was also critical of the record's "constant guitar wig-outs", which he felt made for a disjointed album, although he did praise Jack Sharp's vocals and the "spiralling riff" of "When the Fire is Dead in the Grate", which he thought was Fain's highlight.

[32] Oinonen awarded Fain 8.5 out of ten, complimenting the lyrics, which he felt helped to "create a totally convincing alternative universe", and the complicated song structures which, while initially confusing, became the album's "greatest strength, as all those rapidly shifting motifs and riffs unveil their razor-sharp fangs".

[27] Hughes described the album as "deliciously wiggy prog-folk" and singled out the "phosphorescence" of "Hesperus" and "NRR"'s "spidery tangle of rural mores and garage grooves" as evidence of Wolf People's "modernist witchery".

[35] Many reviewers commented on the fact that Ruins was a 'heavier' album than its predecessors, with Uncut's Joe Anderson stating that its tracks are "sharply focused and blessedly heavy" in comparison with the band's earlier work, which he felt were "sometimes blighted by a weakness for jammy indulgence".

[37] The Guardian's Michael Hann similarly commented on the record's combination of pastoral folk music and metal, claiming that "if Fairport Convention had preferred Black Sabbath to Bob Dylan, they might have sounded like this".