Released in 2017 via Partisan Records, Cigarettes After Sex is the self-titled debut album by Cigarettes After Sex, the ambient pop project led by Greg Gonzalez. Following the acclaim of their 2012 EP I and the viral success of early tracks like Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby, the album delivers on the band’s promise of lush minimalism, sensual melancholy, and dreamlike intimacy.
The album opens with K., immediately enveloping listeners in the band’s signature haze gentle, reverb-drenched guitars, soft bass pulses, and Gonzalez’s androgynous, whispering vocals. Cigarettes After Sex craft songs that exist in suspended motion, emphasizing atmosphere and emotional texture over dynamic shifts. Each track flows seamlessly into the next, forming a continuous reverie that feels both cinematic and deeply personal.
Tracks such as Apocalypse, Sunsetz, and Each Time You Fall in Love showcase the group’s mastery of subtle repetition and mood. The lyrics, often romantic and bittersweet, evoke fleeting moments and quiet revelations snapshots of love, longing, and nostalgia. Gonzalez’s restrained vocal delivery transforms simple lines into haunting confessions, while the shimmering production invites the listener into a space of nocturnal reflection.
The production on Cigarettes After Sex is remarkably consistent: every sound feels deliberate and weightless, from the soft drum patterns to the delicately layered guitar tones. The album’s monochromatic palette its endless twilight mood might seem uniform, but within that simplicity lies its power. It’s an album less concerned with variety than with immersion, rewarding listeners who sink into its emotional stillness.
Cigarettes After Sex is not an album of climaxes or crescendos; it is one of atmosphere and memory. It captures the quiet ache of intimacy and the hazy afterglow of affection, turning minimal instrumentation into a language of vulnerability and sensuality.
