Gentle Confrontation

Gentle Confrontation received a score of 84 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on four critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[2] Uncut called the album "a varied, disjointed, entirely unpredictable yet utterly singular record",[5] and Mojo felt that "it's the emotional, cathartic journey of the chief protagonist that captivates the most".[3] Pitchfork's Christine Kakaire wrote that James "uses chaotic arrangements and glitchy drums to express knotty, difficult-to-name emotions" on the album, which "sprawls, and each track settles into a distinct tonality".[1]

The Wire called the tracks "vignettes of memory and emotion, which see her thoughtful production informed by IDM, glitch and electronic emo. True to the album's concept, there's a charming bedroom maximalism" and concluded that it is a "lovely, affecting record".[2] Patrick Gamble of The Skinny found that the "most interesting moments are those where James' voice takes centre stage" as she "take a scalpel blade to her discography, only to reassemble the pieces into a record that plays like a victory lap".[4]