Jody Rosen, writing in
Rolling Stone, had high praise for the album, and said the storytelling was "sharp" and the guitar hooks "crunchy," with the overall direction of the album darker than previous outings. Jill Menze of
Billboard called the album "excellent", describing it as "a new minimal sound with a poppy, folk-leaning flair."
Spin gave the album a score of 7/10. Critic Stacey Anderson writes, "'Sky' eschews the occasional decade-hopscotching of 2007's
Traffic and Weather, reaching a new, raw sincerity and cohesiveness: 'Hate to See You Like This' is an anxious entreaty to a depressed girlfriend exquisitely framed by a dramatic backdrop of electric and acoustic guitars." He called "Action Hero" the best track on the album. Allison Stewart, reviewing the album for
The Washington Post, was more mixed in her assessment. She said, "
Sky, with its carefully detailed stories of suburban schlubs, feuding bar owners and luckless
Acela riders, hits all the right notes, but something feels off. Slow and sentimental, more wistful than droll,
Sky is as interested in loping, acoustic country-folk songs as it is in vigorous pop. If the band’s last album, 2007’s
Traffic and Weather, was a
Cars homage,
Sky is an unofficial tribute to
the Jayhawks. It’s not a misfire — one of its gentlest songs, “A Road Song,” is also one of the band's all-time finest — but those who expect the usual gimlet-eyed power pop (that is to say, most everyone) will be left wondering where it went." In the United Kingdom,
The Guardian critic Michael Hann described the album's music as "a more sedate sound, the dominant texture being acoustic guitar overlaid with muted electrics." But the sound was a good one for the band, he said, and named the final track, "Cemetery Guns," the album's best for being "beautifully arranged and written with calm understatement". ==Covers==