J. D. Considine of Musician said: "Curve's thick, psychedelic throb crosses the electrobeat aggression of Front 242 with the blurred guitar drone of Lush, an approach that allows the band the advantages of both styles without becoming openly in thrall to either.

Variations in mood are slight – a little slowing down for 'Lillies Dying'; some Indian sampling for 'Horror Head' – until the final song, a cold, grey ballad called 'Sandpit' that only adds to Doppelgänger's shopping list of unexplained treats.

[10]In its end-of-year round-up issue, Q stated that "Doppelgänger delighted with its thrashy guitar sounds, bone-rattling drum tattoos and cool, poised vocal performances.

[17] In 2016, Pitchfork ranked Doppelgänger at number 40 on its list of the 50 best shoegaze albums of all time; in an accompanying essay, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: Curve's great innovation was marrying densely cloistered electronic rhythms with the approaching onslaught of noise-pop.

Curve have stronger ties to shoegaze than Garbage, however, not just because of their timing but also their articulation: Vocalist Toni Halliday and multi-instrumentalist Dean Garcia favor fuzziness in sound and style, letting aesthetics bleed together, preferring sensation over sculpted song.