The Morbid Outlook website published an article by Carlos Dengler of WNYU’s “Theatrum Aethereum.” Entitled Many Faces of Ethereal, it lists Love Spirals Downwards’ 1992 album, Idylls, as an example of the “pop/rock” side of ethereal music.

Dengler also provided the following review:

From the first plucked chords of “Ilusory Me” to the final cadence of “And the Wood Comes into Leaf” we are engulfed by a peace and sweetness that is, ironically enough, familiar. Out of all the chosen representatives of this genre, Love Spirals Downwards is the most acceptable to general audiences. Dare we call it “pop ethereal”? In Idylls the mood explored is still reminiscent of the dark and the mournful that are so definitive of the genre but the moods are contextualized within song formats (ie-verse/chorus), drums often enter for rhythmical impetus, and Suzanne Perry sings playfully, like a child on a swing. This is ethereal that reflects our world more than the rest. Not rejecting the forms and conventions that pop music has engendered, this is ethereal that seeks to explore our world instead of attempting to escape it. Ryan Lum’s lush sonics and simple chord changes keep us tuned in viscerally, without aweing us into submission. This is ethereal for the heart and the pulse –and by implication– for our lives.