"[11] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel felt the "stalking" track is "a modern rock hit that could bloom into more for the English band, but the single's relative directness doesn't accurately reflect the more obscure path the group favors.

"[14] Upon the re-release, Melody Maker editor Michael Bonner commented, "Beth Gibbons' nicotine-stained voice glides across a backing track as dark and sexy as a midnight stroll round Paris.

This is a melancholy, wistful and worthy successor to the widescreen meanderings of fellow Bristolians Massive Attack, with a soulful vocal and tense backing track that evokes Bond movies and Spaghetti Westerns in equal measure.

"[16] Another Music Week editor, Andy Beevers, stated, "Hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed "Numb", the Bristol duo are re-releasing this single which first appeared as a very limited self-financed white label several months back.

"[17] David Quantick from NME wrote, "Like the great second Specials album and subsequent singles, Portishead take film theme type strands and spooky tunes and make some kind of odd pop with them.

[19] Charles Aaron from Spin opined, "Figures it would take two pale British hip-hop heads to finally dream up some modern lounge music that doesn't sound totally deracinated or desexed.

"[20] Another editor, Jonathan Bernstein, viewed it as the group's "most wistful song", remarking that it's "fraught with anticipation of impending calamity, in part due to the employment of a theremin, the device the Beach Boys used to make "Good Vibrations" sound so spooky.