Pitchfork wrote: "Easy to dismiss, smirk at, or even hate on the first listen, nine out of The Snare's ten tracks are grind-and-pause, semi-sultry pairings of exotic keyboard settings and mid-tech beats that exploit their refrains and come weirdly close to the patterns of 'risqué' after-dinner radio pop circa 1999-present."[12] Exclaim! determined that "as an isolated album it comes across as little more than sub-par art pop whose tunes are monotonous and whose lyrics are obtuse."[5] The Gazette considered it "a dark, brooding work which holds together well, but struggles to free itself from its own weight."[10]
The Sunday Herald deemed the album "10 menacing murder ballads, all characterised by ... dulcimer, baritone sax burps and tinkly music-box noises, backed by a Casio-keyboard approximation of the stuttering beats of modern R&B."[16] The Northern Echo called it "a black masterpiece."[17] The Philadelphia Daily News labeled it "a mysterious soundtrack of the mind with R&B, hip-hop and spaghetti western inflections."[18]
AllMusic wrote that "Looper drops their bright playfulness for a sophisticated, darker counterpart which uses jazz, R&B, and trip-hop as its foundation."[9]
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