Nabuma Rubberband received generally positive reviews from
music critics. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 77, based on 21 reviews. Will Salmon of
Clash wrote that "[t]he production is shimmering and spacious, Yukimi Nagano's vocals the centre of a cat's cradle of glittering synths and down-tempo beats." He added that the album is "altogether more assured" and "match[es] the brilliance" of the band's live sets". Regarding the contributions from
Dave of
De La Soul and
Robin Hannibal ("Mirror", "Killing Me" and "Let Go"), Andy Kellman of
AllMusic stated, "Subtract those contributions and [
Nabuma Rubberband] would still be the group's most accomplished work." Nathan Stevens of
PopMatters expressed that "Nagano has plenty of stunning moments on
Nabuma Rubberband, but it's clear this is a full band enterprise", noting that "[t]he dynamic chemistry between [Fredrik Källgren Wallin and Erik Bodin] drives a majority of these songs along." Huw Oliver of
DIY commented that on
Nabuma Rubberband, the band's "drum-and-synths minimalism is more refined, the bass-lines more prominent, the hooks almost embarrassingly memorable", and that Nagano's "effortless vocal is staggering."
Slant Magazines Kevin Liedel opined that "
Nabuma Rubberband's triumph doesn't stem merely from its creators' newfound confidence. Rather, the album often serves as a paradigm of expertly managed complexity, each track balancing dozens of moving parts and teeming with melodic percolation." John Murphy of
musicOMH concluded, "While
Nabuma Rubberband may not be the commercial breakthrough that some may have expected, it's still a largely enjoyable record and, together with fellow Swede
Lykke Li's
new album, proves once again that nobody does swooningly melancholic pop quite like the ." Alex Denney of
NME felt that the album "isn't quite the home run it should have been, chiefly because the songwriting can't always keep pace with the band's vaulting ambition", but wrote that "when they get it right—'Let Go' is precisely the sort of arthouse R&B blockbuster they could've done with more of—they flirt with perfection." Zander Porter of
Consequence of Sound described
Nabuma Rubberband as "Little Dragon's selfish record, and splendidly so. Some of the sweet moments in its strongest tracks, however, are lost in others, as is the nature of an album with standout tracks. Even yet, Little Dragon ended
Nabuma on a note of tastefulness that shows their confidence has been a positive development."
Pitchforks Harley Brown found that the album's "slow jams are perfectly sexy, but they lack originality", while remarking, "It's great the band was able to find a throughline between the comfortable and the experimental this time around, but on
Nabuma Rubberband they let go of a little too much of themselves in the process."
Uncuts Sam Richards commented that "the likes of 'Mirror' and 'Paris' are melodically and emotionally direct but with plenty going on beneath the surface, while the restrained tempos serve to show off Nagano's nicely maturing voice." Richards continued, "There's nothing here that is likely to offend or amaze but it's a classy affair from start to finish."
Kitty Empire of
The Observer viewed the album as "another fine entry into [the band's] parallel universe", but felt that "[i]t's not the break-out record that they might have gone for". ==Commercial performance==