Perennial (Vera Blue album)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Herald Sun	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
Renowned for Sound	[8]

Cameron Adams from the Herald Sun said: "Pavey and her creative partners Andy and Thom Mak fire up a deep house beat, where the bass goes low while Pavey's voice hovers above, detailing how with a few billion humans on the earth she can afford to be choosy. "Magazine" and "Regular Touch" are what you could even call bangers—it's as if Pavey is cutting out the middle man and remixing herself ... and it works."[6]

Annabel Ross from Rolling Stone felt that "There's nothing subdued about the dubby organ chorus on "First Week", or the calamitous, whirring sirens on "Private", and with Andy and Thom Mak producing, it's all reasonably tasteful, if reeking a little of artifice. Pavey's lyrics, meanwhile, are undoubtedly hers. She's been through a breakup and spends a good few tracks singing about it." adding "Pavey needn’t forget that her unvarnished voice has always been her biggest asset."[7]

Haydon Benfield from Renowned for Sound wrote "Pavey hasn’t sought to reinvent the wheel she rolled out with the EP. If anything, she has doubled down on the formula that proved so successful last year", adding "Knowing that her voice is the drawcard, and recognising the value in restraint, Pavey selectively deploys the gorgeous vocal harmonies and layers, and the surprising combinations of these with the music, throughout Perennial."[8]

Ross Maurice from Beat said "While there is a stylistic distinctiveness between individual tracks, the album is cohesive overall. Perennial is an ambitious debut. It follows a narrative of the initial rawness of a relationship which is then transformed into a celebration of renewal and vivacity."[9]