"When the Fire Is Dead in the Grate" was influenced by the "seaside folk superstition" Sharp read in David Thomson's 1954 book, The People of the Sea. The Besnard Lakes' Jace Lasek provides backing vocals on "All Returns". Critical receptionFain received mostly positive reviews, achieving a score of 72 on Metacritic based on 11 reviews, denoting a "generally favourable" response from critics. Max Evans, writing for website The Quietus, stated that, although Wolf People are clearly influenced by the folk-rock and prog music on the 70s, on Fain they "inject their influences with an honest vitality that keeps them truly alive" and are able to create a unique sound. Pitchfork's Paul Thompson awarded the album 5.9 out of 10, stating that Wolf People narrowed their influences to just a "few strains of turn-of-the-70s UK rock" when creating Fain, a policy which he thought resulted in them "going in circles". Thompson was also critical of the record's "constant guitar wig-outs", which he felt made for a disjointed album, although he did praise Jack Sharp's vocals and the "spiralling riff" of "When the Fire is Dead in the Grate", which he thought was Fain's highlight. MusicOMH's Max Raymond also felt that Fain saw Wolf People "retreading the same ground" and was critical of the unfocussed nature of many of the tracks in his three-star-out-of-five review. Janne Oinonen, writing for The Line of Best Fit, took the opposite view, stating that the album saw Wolf People amplifying "the healthy appreciation of English and Scottish folk song traditions" which had appeared on their previous albums and suggesting that the band were able to create something modern by blending their influences together, in a similar way that "masters of vintage British folk-rock" had done in the past. Oinonen awarded Fain 8.5 out of ten, complimenting the lyrics, which he felt helped to "create a totally convincing alternative universe", and the complicated song structures which, while initially confusing, became the album's "greatest strength, as all those rapidly shifting motifs and riffs unveil their razor-sharp fangs". [[Record Collector|Record Collector's]] Oregano Rathbone awarded Fain four stars out of five and also thought that Wolf People were able to transcend their influences on the album, giving "no impression of being beholden to easy nostalgia and slavish mimicry." Fain received 8 out of 10 from Rob Hughes in his review for Uncut. Hughes described the album as "deliciously wiggy prog-folk"