City Sun Eater in the River of Light received largely positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 13 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Michael Wojtas of Under the Radar praised the album, stating, "Humble consistency and commitment to craft have long been Woods' defining virtues, so the boldness of the band's ninth full-length, City Sun Eater in the River of Light, is an invigorating rush. Without entirely abandoning the psych-folk influences that have colored prior releases, City Sun Eater dives into the grittier side of '70s jazz fusion, the darkest corridors of dub, and funk's paranoiac underbelly. In contrast to the bucolic preceding works, it's an album that summons big city dread, the kind that steams up from beneath the streets and clings to teeming throngs of pedestrians." Wojitas continues, "Undoubtedly, Jarvis Taveniere, a multi-instrumentalist and the band's regular producer, deserves credit for his role in architecting City Sun Eater's sound, but Woods have never sounded more like a fully-functioning unit. Every single layer here swims together to create an unceasingly fluid song cycle of ebb-and-flow paranoia and pleasure" Tim Sendra of AllMusic gave the album a favorable review, stating, "The chances they take and the choices they make might leave their more conservative fans behind. Anyone willing to make the leap with the band will find that the adventurousness and exploration displayed by all involved pay off with yet another impressive Woods album to add to their collection." Dan Lucas of Drowned in Sound also gave the album a favorable review, stating, "Woods succeed by not ensconcing their songs in a generic, lazy wall of sound. While not inherently a bad thing, all too often it’s a lazy shortcut to immersion and a lot of the band’s fellow Brooklynites are guilty of falling into; these guys deserve credit for eschewing the easy route." Jeff Strowe of PopMatters, in a less favorable review, asserted that Woods did not take their experimentation far enough, stating, "Woods haven’t quite carved that spot out but they have put in enough quality work to earn the right to play with the formula. There are glimpses of risk here and there on City Sun Eater but a few more curveballs could really be the remedy that brings home a larger reward."
Accolades
Track listing
Personnel
;Main personnel
Jeremy Earl – vocals, guitar, mandolin, drums, percussion, SK-5 keyboard
