Cigarettes After Sex have been around a lot longer than most people think. While their music entered the mainstream during the pandemic, the band fronted by Greg Gonzalez released their first EP in 2012, and gradually built an organic following before they were swept up into TikTok virality and became Gem-Z's favorite somber, dark pop band.
Now with a gold album and a couple platinum singles under their belts, they are venturing back into the conversation with their latest album X's. Inspired by a real four-year relationships Gonzalez was in, from its dreamy start to grief-filled finish, the group's latest doesn't stray too far from the sound of their previous work, but deeper listens will pick up new textures and flavors in the band's sonic palette, while lyrically further cementing Gonzalez as one of his generation's indie poet laureates.
If I were to try to describe Cigarettes After Sex to someone who had never heard of them (likely a fellow older millennial or Gen Xer), I would probably say they were the mash-up of Placebo, known for their darkly-toned pop sound and androgynous vocals, and Elliott Smith, with his soft-spoken yet visceral and vulnerable lyrics. The group's music is awash in moody guitars, refracted atmospherics, lounge-core beats and dreamy narratives that flitter around minute details that carry greater emotional weight than their surface descriptions.
On the album's opening title track, Gonzalez coos out romantic musings ("Dreaming with a filthy heart...careless with the way you talk") that are delivered through the rose-colored view of someone in love with every bit of their partner, including their flaws. References to an iconic Marilyn Monroe photoshoot may require a bit of research to extrapolate the deeper meaning in the lyrics, but the naive love at the song's heart still burns through. That passion continues on the lovely "Tejanuo Blue" ("We wanted to fuck like all the time, and when you got back from your flight, it was the first thing we did"), which simmers with yearning while giving a hat-tip to the music Gonazalez grew up hearing in Texas.
While not overt, the influence of 80's pop and alternative music is greater here than on past C.A.S. albums. "Hideaway" sounds like a When in Rome song stripped-down, slowed down and fuzzed out to let every syrupy drop soothe and vibe-out. You can also hear it in the lush arrangement of "Holding You, Holding Me", which ticks up the beat and patters with a doo-wop rhythm.
As the honeymoon period of Gonzalez's relationship ends, the songs dive into his mental valleys. Most striking is "Dark Vacay", which outlines Gonzalez's submergence into drugs, alcohol and random hook-ups as a way of numbing the pain following the break-up. You feel him at his low point, "sleeping on the tile, keeping out the light". The guitars on tracks like "Baby Blue Movie" become equally mournful and intense to match the lovers' downfall. Yet even in this darkness, there remains a melodicism to all of the group's songs that keep them hypnotic and warming to the soul.
The remainder of the album finds Gonzalez thrashing between fear and longing ("Hot"), getting stuck nostalgically on the little details of his relationship ("Dreams From Bunker Hill"), and hopelessness ("It seems that you'll never feel that good again. If time doesn't heal, you'll never feel that good again" in "Ambient Slide"). The vocals on this final track have become so cold that you can feel Gonzalez turning off his humanity as a form of defense from the emotional turmoil. Yet despite this, the song, and the majority of the album, has the kind of warmth that can act as a balm for internal turmoil.
While there are no striking, adventurous musical departures on X's, it is still a moody masterpiece sure to soundtrack a number of Gen Z sad summer experiences, and bring comfort to those hurting from lost love for years to come. The album is out tomorrow, July 12th, on Partisan Records. You can listen to the pre-released singles here!
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