This style of sound drew comparisons to the work of composers Harold Budd and Roedelius, though the record's press release claimed Kirby has his own oeuvre.

Characterised by a melancholic tone and piano-reliant tracks, Eager to Tear Apart the Stars departs from the longer and more inaccessible Sadly, but is still similar to that album in its emotions.

Unlike his work as the Caretaker, which explores memory loss, the Leyland Kirby alias represents a more personal project, with piano tracks dominating the releases.

"[1] One producer likened to Eager is Fennesz; writer Mike Powell suggested for Pitchfork that the album Endless Summer (2001) also evokes a feeling of time passing.

[1] The opening track, "The Arrow of Time", sets the melancholic tone of the record, with AllMusic contributor Ned Raggett interpreting it as Kirby's continued exploration of Sadly's emotions.

[8][9] The static style of "They Are All Dead, There Are No Skip at All" drew comparison to bands Disco Inferno and the Avalanches, with Burnett calling it "a synthetic miasma locked somewhere between the Blade Runner soundtrack and Music for Airports.

"[1] Describing Eager to Tear Apart the Stars, Kirby's press release noted that "There's an ostensible sadness to these six pieces, but of a life-affirming and subtly ambiguous kind.

[9] Mike Powell, a Pitchfork writer, considered Eager a "drift, float, shrug" record,[4] while Burnett regarded the album as "that place where melancholia is all-enveloping and overwhelming".

Tyler Parks of Treblezine described the names as not "contain[ing] the music that they designate,"[17] although The Quietus felt that they are "again concerned with time and memory",[3] with Burnett saying the record "would (and has) quickly become maudlin.

"[5] Mike Reid of Tiny Mix Tapes was positive of Eager, considering it Kirby's "palpable opportunity to secure his place alongside comparable musical demigods like Tim Hecker, William Basinski, or Stars of the Lid"; he described the sound of the album as "just as beautifully affecting as [Sadly].