Cigarettes After Sex is an American dream pop band, formed in El Paso, Texas, in 2008 by Greg Gonzalez. The band is known for their ethereal, limerent and often dream-like musical style, lyrics often based on the themes of romance and love, as well as Gonzalez's voice, which has been described as androgynous. While marketed as an ambient pop band, Cigarettes After Sex are also considered to be shoegaze, slowcore and indie rock.
The band's debut extended play, I., was released in 2012, with the song "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby" eventually becoming a sleeper hit through commercial licensing. After the release of the standalone single "Affection" in 2015, the band released their self-titled debut studio album in 2017 to positive reviews. The second Cigarettes After Sex studio album, Cry, followed in 2019. A third album, X's, was released in July 2024.
According to Gonzalez, he had a "friendship with certain benefits" with a woman who smoked after they were together, and one night the name popped into his head.[11] Mitali Shah of Harper's Bazaar India considers the name "extremely catchy",[12] while Sarah Kidd writing for Ambient Light Blog calls it "the name that you just can't forget".
Through music recommendations, Cigarettes After Sex became popular on YouTube, leading to live performances across Europe, Asia, and the United States. The band then released their self-titled debut studio album on June 9, 2017.[15][10][16]
"Apocalypse" was released as the second single from their debut album Cigarettes After Sex on March 21, 2017. It was written and produced by vocalist Greg Gonzalez. It did not chart internationally until 2022, following its use in TikTok trends. The song, as of October 25, 2024, has amassed over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.
In August 2019 the band announced their second studio album, titled Cry, along with the single "Heavenly". The album was released on October 25, 2019.
The band released the single "You're All I Want" in 2020 and, two years later, released a single titled "Pistol", in November 2022.[17]
In July 2023, the band released a pair of singles, "Bubblegum" and "Stop Waiting".[18] In December 2023, the band released a cover of Radiohead's song "Motion Picture Soundtrack".[19]
On February 28, 2024, the band announced their third studio album X's.[20] On the same day, they also announced that they would embark on the X's World Tour in support of the album, taking place throughout 2024 and 2025, and released its lead single "Tejano Blue", in which Gonzalez stated was inspired by his years growing up in his hometown.[21] To further the album's promotion, "Dark Vacay" was released on April 16, 2024, as the album's second single,[22] with "Baby Blue Movie" following it on June 4, 2024.[23]X's was released on July 12, 2024, to favorable reception.[24]
Musical style and influences
In a feature for Noisey by Vice, Christina Cacouris describes Cigarettes After Sex as "elemental, hazy and romantic, but with a noir edge underneath Gonzalez's androgynous voice" as well as "sweet and sentimental".[10] "As the band's name suggests, it's reminiscent of lying in bed, but its ambient qualities don't prevent it from being music you can dance to."[10] Gonzalez cites Françoise Hardy as his favorite singer and Miles Davis as having great impact.[10] In an interview with Sound of Boston, he also noted films such as L'Avventura and The Double Life of Veronique were influential to the feel and sound of the music in "Affection" and their LP.[25] The band also includes the Cowboy Junkies' album The Trinity Session, Julee Cruise, and Cocteau Twins as influences.[9][26] The music blog Eardrums Music describes the band as "slow, dreamy and beautiful with gorgeous, tender vocals and very good lyrics" and compares it to Mazzy Star.[26] Music bloggers behind Swell Tone describe Cigarettes After Sex as a band producing "melancholy, slow pop that will sweetly rock any listener into a listless stupor."[27]
Reviewing "Affection" for Independentmusicnews.com, Jae Pyl concludes that "there's just such an intimacy to Cigarettes After Sex's sound that it's impossible to not let it into the pit of your belly."[14]
Members
Since inception in 2008, the group has included a number of different members and collaborators led by Greg Gonzalez:[13]
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