7/10

Having found fame and success as a songwriting prodigy during her teenage years, frontwoman Greta Kline has always had this youthful exuberance woven throughout her music. Her early work as the singer of Frankie Cosmos was filled with lofty ideals and wishful promises that suited her optimistic place in the world. But as she now enters her mid-twenties, she is beginning to realise that the world she thought she was living in no longer exists, and on the band's fourth album 'Close It Quietly', she begins to explore these more cynical thoughts in order to deliver their most poignant effort to date.

Filled with its usual lo-fi production and woozy guitars, 'Close It Quietly' appears to be just like any other Frankie Cosmos record, but its below the surface that we are beginning to hear the change in Kline's usually upbeat demeanour. 'Marbles' sees her in a far more vulnerable state, with thoughts of losing one's mind playing as the main theme of the single, while 'So Blue' pictures the world being swallowed up with a broad and melancholic hue. But while she may not be the same chirpy frontwoman she once was, there are still plenty of moments on here that lend to her former self that keep this new collection from falling too far into the depths of depression.

Greta Kline has always been one of the more observational songwriters of today, and it feels that this time around, she is looking for a more general and accessible sound rather than one that appeals to her and her peers. Frankie Cosmos look to be moving away from their idealistic New York direction in search of something that is more open and intriguing, and look to prove that over and over again throughout their latest work.