"Exclaim!"s Zahraa Hmood wrote "On "Dawnbreaker", ten tracks elegantly come together to tell the story of a person at the crossroads of their life, and a quiet struggle towards contentment", and praised "Human" as "a poignant, but transformative, moment." In "The Arts Desk", Kieron Tyler noted "Sauser-Monnig’s ebb-and-flow melodies, the transparency of her voice and the immediacy of delivery" and concluded ""Dawnbreaker" could be a live album. And it’s in this setting that it’ll probably acquire an added directness."