Ytilaer

The album was recorded by Mark Nevers at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas in January 2022. "Drainface", however, was recorded by Cooper Crain at Estuary Recording in Austin in December 2021. The album was mixed by Mark Nevers at Wire Recording in Austin in April 2022.[1]

Regarding the album's backwards title, Callahan noted, "a few years ago I was doing some drawing and very casually wrote reality backwards – just like you see on the album – and I thought that could be something someday. It was when I made this record I realised it was the perfect time to use it."[5]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.1/10[6]
Metacritic	87/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Financial Times	[9]
The Guardian	[10]
Mojo	[11]
musicOMH	[12]
The Observer	[13]
Pitchfork	7.8/10[14]
The Skinny	[15]
Sputnikmusic	4.2/5[16]
Uncut	8/10[17]

Ytilaer has received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 87, based on 15 reviews.[7] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.1 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[6]

Andrew Perry of Mojo gave the album a perfect 5-star rating, deeming it an "outright classic".[11] Concluding the review for AllMusic, Heather Phares claimed that, "Along with delivering the abundance of colors, moods, and first-rate songwriting expected from a Bill Callahan album, Ytilaer is more exciting and engaging than his music has been in some time. This is how an expert singer/songwriter captures the tenor of the moment: with songs of timeless quality."[8] Joshua Pickard of Beats Per Minute wrote, "Ytilaer finds Callahan at his most personally enigmatic, taking inspiration from his own life and filtering those experiences through a prism of modern folktales. He offers us all the most enticing details but manages to keep it wonderfully vague at the same time, a treasure trove of musical obscurantism."[18]