Cigarettes After Sex – Cigarettes After Sex
Released June 9th, 2017
Brooklyn quartet Cigarettes After Sex’s self-titled debut album is an even-keeled, slowcore collection; so even-keeled that it borders on ambient. The echoing guitars, soft hi-hats, elastic basslines could easily become boring, but hey deftly make an entrancing album, that even lead singer Greg Gonzalez takes pleasure in its ability to fall asleep to. Cigarettes After Sex becomes one of those restrained, low-boil albums where tempo, repetition, and muted composition construct an entire story within the pauses between the notes and the ideas between the lines. Gonzalez’s voice carries the album with his uniquely androgynous register. (Virtually everyone who doesn’t know otherwise seems to assume Cigarettes After Sex’s singer was female. Myself included upon first listen.)
3.5 of 5 stars
