At Holy Moly, Tim Chipping begins to run out of superlatives:

50 Words For Snow is a slowly unfolding, dense and serious work. Not so much a set of songs as a collection of sung short stories, backed by her most perfect and economical piano playing to date. And while Kate’s once limitless voice is now fried round the edges, her ability to communicate precise emotion and character remains the very best, and most affecting pop music has ever had to offer. If the underrated Aerial was child-focused and playful, 50 Words is adult and profound … We came to this record expecting to find fault, to notice a diminishing in her once impeccable judgment and to hear an artist from the past, far from the top of her game. What we found was the opposite, and so much more. 50 Words For Snow is simply extarordinary.” The album is rated 10/10.