[4] The producer's DJ work highlighted a 'freestyle' approach, playing music from numerous genres,[5] including material ranging from Studio One reggae, John Barry soundtracks to Detroit techno.

That April, Lionrock released the EP Packet of Peace on the label,[3] which became the act's first Top 40 hit in the UK Singles Chart,[7] before beginning work on a debut album.

[3] By the time An Instinct for Detection was conceived, Lionrock had grown from a Robertson solo project into a group,[8] with keyboardists Mandy Wigby and Roger Lyons, bassist Paddy Steer and vocalist Mc Buzz B.

"[4] An Instinct for Detection is an ambitious album that mixes house and hip hop breaks with instrumentation atypical to British dance music into propulsive but accessible arrangements.

[3][5] Pushing Robertson's genre fusions even further, the record is driven by heavy dance beats, dub bass lines, harsh techno synths and live instruments,[4] utilising samples of artists such as Scott Walker and Nancy Sinatra.

[6] The album continues Lionrock's earlier experiments with reggae and dub,[11] and was described by House: The Rough Guide as fusing techno with ragga and ska dynamics.

"[6] The inclusion of the Holmes samples was an attempt to create a "British equivalent" to the Beastie Boys' spoofing of American detective shows, as with the "Sabotage" video, and was partly inspired by the "Heinz Baked Beans ads" on the Who's The Who Sell Out (1967).

[6] Making note of the "[b]ags of cod Sherlock Homesian dialogue," writer Dave McDonigle described the record as "either trip-hop’s last gleaming or big beat's first concept album.

Among the album's darker tracks, "Wilmslow Road" features a gloomy piano sound suggesting an "Ennio Morricone-like sense of displacement and dread," according to Harrison.

[8] "Fire Up the Shoesaw" found popularity on American modern rock stations, including WHFS in Washington, D.C., KROQ in Los Angeles and KITS in San Francisco.

[3][17] In a contemporary review, Ian Harrison of Select hailed the "good deal of twist," praising the eclecticism and describing it as "the best acid hip hop concept party album in the firmament", also feeling it established Robertson among "the premier league of punk-fixated dance music.

"[21] Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post felt that the album frequently recalled the Art of Noise, "Britain's first great rejoinder to American hip-hop," updated via the addition of "some Tricky-style dub-derived spookiness and occasional movie-dialogue samples in the manner of Saint Etienne.

"[8] Mike Schulman of Rhapsody said: "truly embodying the Balearic ideal, DJ Justin Robertson's Lionrock blend all manner of dancefloor styles, from loping House beats to propulsive Techno, hip-hop and down-tempo grooves.

"[22] In a 1998 article for Spin, Julie Taraska nonetheless wrote that, upon the album's eventual release in the United States, "its Coldcut-style-break-beat-and-sample collages were 18 months past their sell-by date.

"[13] In a guide to the big beat genre, Don McGonigle of Stylus Magazine wrote that the album was a "wonderfully eccentric" cult classic that showed Lionrock as an "inconsistently brilliant band.

"[9] Martin Strong recommended the album to those new to Lionrock in his record guide The Wee Rock Discography,[20] whereas in The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music, Colin Larkin highlighted the reggae elements, MC Buzz B's vocals and the Sherlock Holmes samples.