[5] The PopMatters review by Brice Ezell stated "it’s curious how much of The Narrow Garden doesn’t sound cutting-edge.

Its more accessible root melodies leave room for a wider array of colors and textures to naturally find their way into its mix.

It is his most ambitious and focused work, and combines not only instruments and musical traditions, but cultural sonances and histories as well".

[3] Pitchfork reviewer Brian Howe noted "you don't have to strain too hard to hear Kang's intricate weaving of soft, romantic consonances and harsh, anxious dissonances as an expression of the quicksilver joys and miseries of formalized desire.

Taking in lyric poetry, Western choral music, Middle Eastern and South Asian modes, and "ashugh" singing (a popular folk tradition heavily associated with the Caucasus), The Narrow Garden features some of the most sunny and flowering music that Kang has created, seamlessly joined with a couple of sinister threnodies.