Week 2 of 52 albums in 2025
Cigarettes After Sex - X's
I'm listening to a new album every week this year, and week 2 has come and gone quickly.
This week it was an album recommended by my friend Katie called X's by Cigarettes After Sex.
It's very chill, lofi pop stuff. I don't know the exact genre, it's described as 'dream pop' and I'd say that's pretty apt, but there's a sedative drug flavour to it. You only need to look at the album titles to see it, but you can hear it too.
It is, to my ears at least, stay indoors on a cold day and fuck music. The lyrics seem to be related to sex or sexy times, or perhaps it's about remembering sexy times. It's not in your face fuck music mind you, it's gentler than that. I've never heard anything from this band before, but with a name like Cigarettes After Sex, I'd have to say they are living up to their name.
All this being said, from the opening note, the first thought was oh yeah, Strymon. I don't know for sure that they use Strymon effect pedals, as I haven't got any Strymon gear myself, but it certainly sounds like something from that pedal company. It's vast and reverby, and catches you in a cosy cocoon.
As for songs, I'd say my standouts from the start were X's, Tejano Blue, and Holding You, Holding Me. The song Holding You, Holding Me, reminded me of a song called Agoraphobia by Deerhunter. It's not ripping it off, but as I don't normally listen to this style of music, it was the most familiar song to my ears on the first few listens.
Over time though, the tracks Hideaway, Dark Vacay, Hot, and Ambien Slide grew on me. Seeing as that's 7 out of the 10 tracks, that's not too shabby at all. Because the album has a vibe that stays consistent throughout the album, some of the later songs on the album didn't grab me as much. They are all different, but not so vastly different that I go ohh, this song! It's more a case of oh yeah, this one had that chorus I liked. What I'm getting at is none of it was instantly skippable, but there was a fair bit that was forgettable.
I found myself humming parts of it throughout the week, so there's a couple of mild earworms. All in all, it's something I could see myself putting on again in future and enjoying, but it's not something I would immediately go to when picking out an album. I'll give this one 3 fingers out of 5, and I'll include the thumb in that so you can make a small duck like shape.
Here's the list so far: