 Primary Colours received generally positive critical reception, so much so that Eddy Current Suppression Ring's front man, Current, remarked that it was "weird" because he didn't "know if anyone's said a bad word about it". Bevan awarded Primary Colours a rating of 8.2 out of 10. Robert Christgau gave the album a rating of A −, which, according to him, corresponds to "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction". He also wrote that they do "the same thing punk bands have always done" and described the album as a "recurring miracle." Chris Richards compared the album to many early punk and post-punk bands such as "a breezier Stooges" or "The Fall with less squall". He concluded that the album was "the most righteous rock-and-roll moment of 2008". A more mixed review written by Emily Mackay awarded Primary Colours a rating of 7 out of 10 and criticised it for its lack of originality.
