[4][5] After the Fall was Coughlan's first studio album to be widely distributed in the United States.

[14] New Internationalist called "Woman Undone" "a stunningly well-wrought take on the lapsarian fable... Powered along by plucked strings and an airy, expansive feel, it's both wry and angry.

"[18] The Morning Call determined that Coughlan weaves "this chronicle of bouts with addiction and depression and the pain of divorce with coal-black humor.

"[20] 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.

"[21] AllMusic wrote: "Inflected with whimsy, wonder and cynicism, Coughlan wends her way through torch songs and laments of women undone, men unemployed and the world in confusion.