ALBUM REVIEW: Cigarettes After Sex – Cry
BEST TRACKS: Heavenly, You’re The Only Good Thing In My Life, Touch
FCC Violations: Kiss It Off Me, You’re The Only Good Thing In My Life
Recommended if you like: Beach House, Slowdive, The xx
Cigarettes After Sex is back after 2 years of absence with a new, self-produced release, Cry. Their self-titled first album is a hard act to follow, containing what is, in my opinion, one of the purest, fuzzy-feeling modern love songs ever written, Sweet. I was excited to see what this album had in store for us. Much like Cigarettes After Sex’s first album, Cry is slower than molasses, and sweeter too.
Listening to this album, it’s obvious that front man Greg Gonzales holds firmly the belief that less is more and executes this ethos flawlessly. Cry is mind-blowingly gentle and slow, yet still somehow manages to keep the listener’s ear perked with ultra-downbeat hints of dreampop. Gonzales’ voice sounds like a moon fairy whispering into your ear. From the first note, Gonzales creates an unshakable atmosphere, like time standing still, through echoing guitar strums, and that lovely low hum of a bassline.
Though the music is unique and fantastic, there is not much substance in the way of lyrics on this album. Though it’s refreshing to see such blatant themes of sexual desire in a genre that is usually so subtle and prude, there is not enough depth or poetry in the writing. Lyrics come off as generic and clichéd. Listening to these songs kind of made me feel like I was reading the diary of a hormonal teenage boy who thinks he’s in love.
I’ll say that this album is still worth a listen purely for the atmosphere created by the music. That is, if you don’t let the corny lyrics jolt you out of the mood. This is an album for horny romantics and painfully hopeless fantasizers. If you are, or ever were, an unashamedly diehard fan of Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey, then give this album a spin.
-Safia Rizwan