American ambient pop band Cigarettes After Sex released their third studio album called “X’s” for Partisan Records, on which they worked carefully for five years.
With the new album, the trio has taken an important position not only as one of the preeminent indie bands of today, but as one of the most successful bands of any genre, and whose unconventional path to superstar status has helped reshape the definition of success for artists in the modern era.
On the ten songs of the third album of the band Cigarettes After Sex called “X’s”, the leader of the band Greg Gonzales he embraced every romance-inspired emotion, filled it with raw, imaginative, sometimes dirty vignettes, and laid it on a foundation of mesmerizing, slow-motion pop melodies.
While previous albums have been drawn from an amalgam of interpersonal romantic relationships, “X’s” mostly concentrates on just one—one that spanned four years.
“The album seems brutal,” admits Gonzales. “I could sit down and talk about the loss with someone, but that wouldn’t scratch the surface. I have to really write about it, sing about it, make music about it, and then I can start to analyze and learn from that experience. Or to simply live it – in a good way. I don’t have that attitude like the sun is still shining, so I wish I could forget it.”
While continuing to follow the structures of classic pop songs, Gonzales has moved away from the previous sonic foundations of the 50s and 60s, revealing that he is now drawn to the slowdance music of the 70s/80s. Although (in typical Cigarettes style), these changes can be subtle, the result is an energy akin to the tears of a broken disco ball on a dance floor.
Source: balkanrock.com
