Ashley's previous records were in the quality indie pop style, which made this wholly instrumental (except for some wordless vocals) mock-soundtrack excursion something of a surprise. It's a good surprise, though, if a too-brief one, clocking in a mere 26 minutes. Inspired by '70s-era Italian soundtracks, it deftly blends spooky yet attractive melodies and a pretty astonishing variety of instrumental textures, most played by Ashley: piano, guitars, bells, accordion, Hammond B3 organ, banjo, slide whistle, Moog, and more. The ten tracks have a beguiling air of gothic, romantic, classical melodies, with tinges of progressive rock instrumentation, Baroque keyboards, eerie synthetic whistle-squiggles, and spectral female choral vocals. "This music was intended to be listened to a night, alone, in the dark!!!," it says in small print on the inner sleeve, and the contents do live up to that billing. It's not easy to make a convincing go of a record inspired by a pretty obscure genre and it's too bad it wasn't double the length.
- Richie Unterberger, AllMusic