According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Air received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 from six critic scores.[5] The editorial staff at AnyDecentMusic? scored characterized reviews as a 7.2 out of 10, with five reviews.[4] The editors of AllMusic Guide gave Air four out of five stars, with reviewer Andy Kellman praising the group's transition to choral music, as well as the vocals on "Luos Higher".[6] In The Guardian, Stevie Chick scored this release five out of five stars, calling this "boundary-breaking work for an entirely new and unexpected paradigm" after the group's funk and hip hop roots.[3] Shy Thompson of Pitchfork rated Air an 83 out of 100, with the site naming it the Best New Music of the week; Thompson's review calls Air "too manifold to be easily simplified" and noting that it is an important statement about love.[9] The same publication posted a review of the 39 best albums of 2022 so far on 13 June and included Air.[11] For The Quietus, Nathan Evans called this album "compositions deserve Fantasia-style visuals", that still retain some of the group's R&B roots.[12]Clash's Robin Murray dissented, with a five out of 10 review that considers this work weak compared the band's back catalogue, calling it "disappointing and listless", but "at times pretty, at others curiously appealing".[7]Mojo's Tom Doyle rated Air three out of five stars, calling it "impressive in its execution", but noting that it "too frequently tends to the bombastic".[8] In Uncut, John Lewis assessed this release a seven out of 10 for being "a rather audacious curveball" that is "a little stiff and metronomic in places".[10]
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