Newsday stated: "A quietly smoldering singer whose authoritative voice is tinged with smoky traces of blues and jazz, Coughlan makes adult pop music about adult problems." The Guardian concluded that "the enervated piano/sax backing is classic torch." The St. Paul Pioneer Press deemed After the Fall "a stunning album that should be heard by anyone who thinks that the music industry doesn't have time for quality anymore and that 'women's music' is relegated to airbrushed pop and video-friendly babes."
