[1][2][3] In a review for All About Jazz, John Sharpe called the album "a fascinating chronicle," and singled out Kowald's solo for praise, writing: "At times he exploits the harmonics where his splintered vocalized inflections create the illusion of multiple voices.

In addition he does actually make use of his voice, subtly blending the throat singing he had learned from Siberian collaborations with his arco technique, adding a fetching human vulnerability.

stated: "when a vault somewhere pops open and a collaboration of two of improvised music's titans blows in from Wuppertal in 1987, one can be forgiven for being rendered speechless...

"[7] Paris Transatlantic's Michael Rosenstein praised the album's "stellar music," and commented: "By the time they start the second, 36-minute [duo] improvisation, both men are firing on all cylinders: there's constant give and take as Hemphill's lithe melodicism, full of leaping intervals and circuitous lines, plays off Kowald's rumbling pizzicato, crying bent notes, and dark sliding tonalities.

"[6] In an article for Dusted Magazine, Bill Meyer called the album "an unlikely but successful encounter," and wrote that, in his solos, "Hemphill navigates the blues, but he doesn't stop there.