[2] Editors at AllMusic Guide scored this release four out of five stars, with critic Marcy Donelson noting that the lyrics "bounce between heartache, affection, self-consciousness, and playfulness, disappointment hovers like a cloud overhead" and this album continues "Kline's reputation as one of indie pop's most reliable songsmiths".

[3] Sasha Geffen of Pitchfork Media rated Close It Quietly a 7.1 out of 10, praising songwriter Greta Kline's progress as a musician, noting that she "wades fearlessly into that process of continual unearthing, casting off what used to make sense and what doesn't anymore—old relationships, old habits, old vantages on a world that grows more complex by the day".

[5] Calling Close It Quietly a "tour de force songwriting binge" and giving it four out of five stars, Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone praises Kline's lyrics and vocals, writing that "she speaks not so much for the voiceless but for those who can take or leave the very notion of having a voice in the first place, for every tender soul out there who'd rather stare at a metaphor-rich arrangement of fall branches than go to a party".

[6] Another eight out of 10 came from Oliver Kuscher of The Line of Best Fit, who notes that this album includes darker themes not featured on earlier Frankie Cosmos work and "none of that has quashed her voracious creativity or suffocated her unique voice".

[10] Mark Newington of musicOMH sums up his positive review, "it's a real skill to make what is essentially pop music that also manages to combine depth in lyrics and cheerful tunes, and on this album Frankie Cosmos absolutely excel".