The album was recorded in three days during the summer of 2014 in Brooklyn, New York City,[8] live with very limited overdubs[9] and produced by Tony Maimone.[10] Months later vocals were added with Reinhart handling seven and Watt performing two.[9] Watt provided most of material by sharing rough versions of his compositions, or "launchpads" as he calls them,[1] played on bass.[11] On these tracks guitar was added after Watt's basslines, something that initially intimidated Reinhart[12] but Cline was familiar with the method of composing having worked this way before with Watt on Contemplating the Engine Room.[12] Cline and Saunier each contributed a track of their own.[13]
Under the Radar's' Dustin Krcatovich's compared it to a "modern take on classic Beefheart" and praised the musicians ability to "combine weirdo prog-level precision and classic SST freakcore abandon"[14]The Spill Magazine's Ljubinko Zivkovic gave it three out of five stars and called it "a mixed bag with some stellar moments."[5] Justin Cober-Lake of Dusted praised the musicianship calling it "unsurprisingly unpredictable".[15] Scott A. Gray of Exclaim! found some of the tracks indulgent but ultimately found "the majority of Big Walnuts Yonder is fantastic."[6]