Cigarettes After Sex : Cigarettes After Sex

Label: Partisan Records

Reviewed by: DJ Stace

Reviewed: 10/23/2017

Ambient Pop originally from El Paso, Texas, now of Brooklyn, NY. This is the eponymous debut of Cigarettes After Sex. Ethereal guitars that sound recorded in empty cathedrals, and androgynous vocals about sending and receiving naughty phone videos, watching lovers shower and hooking up with club kids. What's not to love? Spare, sweet and satisfying. Noirish and foggy.

RIYL: Mazzy Star, American Analog Set, Bedhead, Cowboy Junkies, Cocteau Twins

**FCCs: 10 **

Favorites: Play anything, they are all lovely, except 10, which is lovely, but extra naughty. 1,3, & 6 are particular favorites

1. "K." 5:19 - "Trinity Sessions" style cathedral guitars and sweet lyrics about physical obsession and budding love. Slow, insistent and lovely.
2. "Each Time You Fall in Love" 4:50 - More organ driven, still with that recorded in a church vibe. Lyrics about someone prone to falling in love over and over, but more androgyny in the vocals here, gives this a less admonishing tone than the lyrics belie, somehow. Quiet, slow and very Cocteau Twins in the instrumentation.
3. "Sunsetz" 3:34 - Remind me a bit of Band of Horses at the start. Great playful lyrics about love remembered. "So you open your dress & show me your tits" Is that an FCC? I don't think so. Mid-tempo and pleasant.
4. "Apocalypse" 4:50 - Any of these songs could be a Mazzy Star tune, but this one really sounds as if Hope Sandoval should be doing the vocals. Mid-tempo, strummy and ethereal.
5. "Flash" 4:34 - Organ and bass remind me a bit of something from recent Nick Cave & Warren Ellis work. Mid-tempo-ish, Cavernous guitars, breathy vocals, spare and quiet drums.
6. "Sweet" 4:51 - My personal favorite on the album. Mid-tempo, quiet, whispered vocals to a shuffling brushed snare rhythm, punctuated by some excellent Robin Guthrie-style guitar work. Fades, beautifully, with the refrain,... "I would gladly break my heart for you…"
7. "Opera House" 6:04 - Pretty sure the lyrics are referencing the plot of the Werner Herzog film "Fitzcarraldo" where Klaus Kinski's opera obsessed character dreams, and ultimately succeeds in bringing Enrico Caruso and a 300 ton riverboat across a mountain to a remote Andean village.
8. "Truly" 4:03 - More cerebrally naughty lyrics (though not FCC!) sung like a breathy Hope Sandoval love song. Mid-tempo lazy snare rhythm, brief and spare lyrics. Love the minimalism of this album and this song is a great example.
9. "John Wayne" 4:18 - Unrequited love. More downtempo Trinity Sessions-esque ambient pop.
10. "Young & Dumb" 4:33 FCCs "sucking cock" "Hot as Fuck" Great tune. Sweet and soft enough that you'd probably miss the FCCs on first listen, but there they are. Throughout the whole tune. Too bad, probably my second favorite song on the album.