The songs on Plumb featured a wide variety of instrument combinations, from horns and strings to synthesizers and keyboards, as well as a great deal of falsetto vocals and sophisticated harmonies.

Several reviewers compared Plumb to the work of such artists as XTC, Pink Floyd, Yes, the Beach Boys, Todd Rundgren, Electric Light Orchestra, and the Beatles.

The image was also partially inspired by a print in Peter's bathroom of an Edward Ruscha painting called Standard, which showed a gas station rendered to highlight different perspectives, geometry, and colours.

"[10] David Brewis noted that when preparing an album, "we usually do the opposite of what we did before",[12] and that since Measure embraced more traditional rock conventions in the style of bands like Free and Led Zeppelin, Field Music wanted to move in a different direction with Plumb.

[15] The album's introduction in opening track "Start the Day Right", in particular, bears similarities to the soundtracks of Walt Disney films,[19][21] with wind chimes, strings,[22][31][48] and a four-note melody on bells,[31] before segueing into boisterous drums and an electric guitar riff.

[16][28] While many songs on Plumb had multiple sections or shifting musical styles, some were simpler variations over a repeating motif, like in "A New Town",[31] which was built over a minimalist, groovy bassline,[11][33] and a repetitious guitar riff.

[6] Aaron Lavery of Drowned in Sound said the track contained all the ingredients of the Plumb album itself, including "an instant, insistent riff, ideas piled on top of one another, and questioning, self-doubting lyrics.

[6] Some of the songs were influenced by past financial difficulties in the United Kingdom,[6][41] particularly in the Brewis brothers' native North East,[41] depicting what The Quietus writer Barnaby Smith called "scenes of the grimness and humiliation that many endured as austerity measures which took hold in Britain at that time".

[24] Plumb also included lyrics about everyday life for the British working class,[24][28][69] highlighting predictable daily rituals of that are easy to overlook and the effect they have on the ability for people to relate to each another.

was about simple domestic issues that everyone faces,[19] while "A New Town" focused on the anxiety of adapting basic routines to foreign or unfamiliar places; Harvey said it emphasized "the subtle wonder of seeing for the first time what's always been there".

[49] Griffiths wrote that Plumb addressed simple, real-life matters in often very personal ways, making it an honest and engaging album: "It comes across as a record they've poured their heart and soul into, and have thus given their listeners an insight into their feelings.

[11] Several reviewers said the lyrics are occasionally cathartic,[14] with Jenkins citing a line from "Choosing Sides" that particularly expressed the "fed-up sentiments" of the band: "I want a different idea of what better can be which doesn't involve treating somebody else like shit".

[91] Tim Sendra of AllMusic called it Field Music's most precise, progressive, and immediately satisfying album so far, and describing it as the band "perfecting their sound (and) breaking it down to key elements".

[18] Herald & Review entertainment editor Tim Cain called Plumb Field Music's best album,[88] as did Harriet Gibsone of The Sunday Times, who said it demonstrated the band has "mastered the conventions of the unconventional".

[14] Gareth James of Clash magazine called it an "exhilarating and ambitious collection", writing: "Plumb cements Field Music's reputation for truly magnificently crafted classic pop-rock, with an unashamed love of the grandiose soundscapes of the Seventies and a taste for adorning songs with neatly selected sounds from real life.

[24] Sunday Star-Times writer James Belfield called it "a surprisingly listenable mish-mash of poppy hooks, staccato time-signature shifts and elegantly scruffy everyday lyrics", and said while the unusual structure can be off-putting at times, the "overall effect is majestic".

[9] Michelle Read of mX called the album "beautiful, challenging and thought provoking", writing: "just when the songs get too self-indulgent and threaten to run away, the brothers turn around and beckon with something intriguing".

[85] Hamish MacBain of NME said Plumb could be the band's "moment for wider acceptance", praising the album as music that "demands repeated visits and devoted attention to fully unlock" and "doesn't sit still for a second".

[22] BBC writer Chris Beanland said the album has a "suburban, provincial sweetness (that) is eminently loveable", praising the off-kilter song structures, asymmetric pop sound, and "endearingly weird Wearside aesthetic".

[38] Uncut claimed that the band were "able to mine considerable emotional capital from their seemingly parochial concerns" and that the group were "fast becoming the cherished eccentrics of British guitar music".

[6] George Lang of The Oklahoman said despite the short track lengths on Plumb, the album was "economical and thoughtfully organized, not loud and fast, (and) engineered to exact specifications, perfect in its construction".

[36] Lauren Murphy of The Irish Times said Plumb called it an album of "vibrant, progressive songs that will seduce you with their sophisticated orchestral beauty as easily as they'll spur you on to shake a leg".

[58] Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald called the album "entertaining, even as it disorients", and said "Once the initial head-spinning has passed, the oddities and quirks become part of the patchwork of clever pop songs.

"[57] Dave Simpson of The Guardian said Plumb can sound "baffling" on first listen because of the shifts in time signature and tone, but that "perseverance brings rich rewards, as the complexities start to make a weird sense and you end up swept along in their ever-changing moods".

[28] UCSD Guardian writer Taylor Hogshead said Plumb "may be the duo's most inspired work to date", though he said there were "a handful of throwaways that seem half-heartedly attached merely for their technical elegance", like "Ce Soir" and "So Long Then".

[99] Andy Gill of The Independent wrote: "There's an awful lot of music crammed into Plumb's 35 minutes, but it's rarely organised into the most attractive shapes – and on the few occasions it is, they alter course within seconds and head off in some less appealing direction.

"[48] Luke Winkie of Paste said Field Music has a "near-neurotic frenzy of cramming dozens of complex sound-geek ideas into microscopic time slots", but that the album "feels mostly like an over-concentrated mess of misplaced ambitions".

[100] Multiple reviewers compared Plumb to the work of XTC,[5][36][57][95] Pink Floyd,[20][51][64] Genesis,[5][26][53] Yes,[26][60][99] The Beach Boys,[5][50][60] Todd Rundgren,[8][36][53] Electric Light Orchestra,[56][64][99] Prince,[8][20] Supertramp,[20][48][52] Split Enz,[42] and The Beatles,[27][38][43] as well as Paul McCartney as a solo artist.

[105][106][107] The judges for the prize described the album as "playful harmonies, quirky rhythms, the stop start sounds of everyday life, love and daydreams in today's British city – gripping and affecting".

[12] The brothers also said they felt Plumb unusual nominee compared to the others, and Peter said it might be "unfair" if they won: "The music industry would be right royally pissed off if somebody who has sold half as many copies as some of the others ended up winning.