-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Cigarettes After Sex
ALBUM...: I.
GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Indie Rock, Slowcore, Dream Pop, Ambient Pop, Post-Rock
YEAR....: 2015
LABEL...: Spanish Prayers
COUNTRY.: USA
PLACE...: Brooklyn, NY
FORMED..: 2008, El Paso, TX
ENCODER.: FLAC 1.3.1 -8 -V
BITRATE.: 811 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / 2 channels
SOURCE..: CDEP
TRACKS..: 4
SIZE....: 104.92 MB
URL..: http://www.facebook.com/CigarettesAfterSex
https://www.cigarettesaftersex.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarettes_After_Sex
https://cigarettesaftersex.bandcamp.com/album/i
- TRACKLIST
1 Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby 4:46
2 I'm A Firefighter 4:31
3 Dreaming Of You 5:22
4 Starry Eyes 3:26
Total Playtime: 18:05
You like sex, don't you? Of course you do. Then you probably like cigs...
what's that, you don't smoke? Hmm. Well you'll probably still like these guys
from Brooklyn who do dreamy pop with jangly, reverby slow-mo guitars like
Mazzy Star of old and got 75 million views on YouTube out of it. I'm talking,
of course, about Cigarettes After Sex.
This is the band's first EP -- a reissue which originally came out in 2012 --
ahead of their debut LP due this eventually coming summer. That'll be nice.
You get four songs aching with rich, dark melancholy and sung breathily by
the band's chief and songwriter Greg Gonzales. The highlight of the EP for me
is 'Dreaming Of You' with its ambient scrapey guitar. It'll sound good on my
stereo tonight, after dinner when I'm washing up the saucepan and plates.
I'll still miss Hope Sandoval though.
*
I usually sleep with Cigarettes After Sex playing in the background, and one
day I woke up in the middle of the night and Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby
was playing, I remember being in this sleepy state and I was diving in a
space where I felt like I was driving in late night, clear sky and full moon
while in an empty and rural space surrounded by a few factories blowing out
smoke but did not affect the atmosphere and I could see the stars clearly,
fell asleep right after and woke up thinking about that song. I decided to
listen to the rest of the album and the rest of the songs make me feel the
same way, it is a pretty stellar EP, and I'm so obsessed with their signature
sound.
*
S A LOVER OF SOOTHING, EVOCATIVE MUSIC, FINDING AN ALBUM THAT CAPTURES A
PERFECT BLEND OF MELANCHOLY AND TRANQUILITY IS LIKE DISCOVERING A RARE GEM.
THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I FIRST LISTENED TO THE 2012 EP TITLED "I"
BY CIGARETTES AFTER SEX. THIS SHORT COLLECTION OF SONGS HAS NOT ONLY
CAPTIVATED MY EARS BUT HAS ALSO RESONATED WITH MY SOUL, BECOMING A STAPLE IN
MY PLAYLIST EVER SINCE.
THE SOUND: ENVELOPING SOFTNESS WITH A HAUNTING ECHO
THE SOUND OF CIGARETTES AFTER SEX'S EP IS PROFOUNDLY DISTINCTIVE. IMAGINE A
LATE-NIGHT DRIVE THROUGH A MISTY CITY, THE STREETS EMPTY AND THE GLOW OF
STREETLIGHTS CASTING LONG SHADOWS. THAT'S THE MOOD THIS MUSIC EVOKES. THE
BAND UTILIZES A MINIMALISTIC APPROACH, WITH SLOW, DELIBERATE TEMPOS THAT MAKE
EVERY NOTE AND SILENCE FEEL INTENTIONAL. GREG GONZALEZ'S VOCALS, ETHEREAL AND
WHISPERY, SEEM TO FLOAT OVER THE GENTLE STRUMMING OF ELECTRIC GUITARS,
CREATING AN ALMOST DREAMLIKE QUALITY. THE USE OF REVERB IS MASTERFUL, GIVING
THE SONGS AN AIRY, EXPANSIVE FEEL THAT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE LISTENING
TO THEM IN A VAST, OPEN CATHEDRAL AT NIGHT.
THE LYRICS: INTIMATE WHISPERS THAT ECHO IN THE SOUL
LYRICALLY, THE EP DELVES INTO THEMES OF LOVE, LONGING, AND INTROSPECTION. THE
LYRICS ARE SIMPLE YET PROFOUNDLY INTIMATE, ALMOST AS IF YOU ARE READING
SNIPPETS FROM A PERSONAL DIARY OR OVERHEARING A CONFESSION. LINES LIKE "I
KNOW YOU'RE SLEEPING BY NOW" FROM THE TRACK "NOTHING'S GONNA HURT YOU BABY"
CREATE A VIVID PICTURE OF LONGING AND PROTECTIVENESS. THERE'S A UNIVERSALITY
IN THE WORDS THAT MAKES THEM RELATABLE, YET THEY ARE DELIVERED WITH SUCH
PERSONAL INFLECTION THAT THEY FEEL UNIQUELY INTIMATE.
THE POWER IN GENTLENESS
PERHAPS THE MOST STRIKING ASPECT OF CIGARETTES AFTER SEX'S SOUND IS HOW THEY
MANAGE TO CONVEY POWER THROUGH GENTLENESS. THE SOFTNESS OF THE MUSIC DOES NOT
DIMINISH ITS IMPACT; RATHER, IT ENHANCES IT. EVERY CHORD AND EVERY NOTE
CARRIES WEIGHT, AND THE QUIETNESS OF THE SOUND MAKES YOU LEAN IN AND LISTEN
MORE CLOSELY. IT'S A REMINDER THAT POWER IN MUSIC ISN'T ALWAYS ABOUT VOLUME
OR COMPLEXITY; SOMETIMES, THE MOST POWERFUL MUSICAL EXPERIENCES COME FROM THE
SIMPLEST, MOST HONEST EXPRESSIONS.
THIS EP IS MORE THAN JUST BACKGROUND MUSIC; IT'S A SONIC EXPERIENCE THAT
DEMANDS YOUR ATTENTION AND REWARDS YOU WITH A RICH, EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE. IT'S
THE KIND OF MUSIC THAT BESTOWS A SENSE OF PEACE AND INTROSPECTION, OFFERING A
SOUNDTRACK FOR THOSE MOMENTS OF QUIET REFLECTION OR LATE-NIGHT CONVERSATIONS.
FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T YET EXPERIENCED THE HAUNTING BEAUTY OF CIGARETTES AFTER
SEX'S 2012 EP "I", I HIGHLY RECOMMEND GIVING IT A LISTEN. LET YOURSELF BE
ENVELOPED BY ITS SERENE, MELANCHOLIC SOUNDSCAPES. IT'S A PROFOUND REMINDER OF
THE EMOTIVE POWER OF MUSIC, CAPABLE OF TOUCHING THE DEEPEST PARTS OF OUR
SOULS WITH NOTHING BUT WHISPERS AND GENTLE STRUMS.
LISTEN AT NIGHT IN BED,
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Dream Pop
is a subgenre of
alternative rock and neo-psychedelia
that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop
melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions,
and effects such as reverb, echo, tremolo, and chorus. It often
overlaps with the related genre of shoegaze, and the
two genre terms have at times been
used interchangeably.
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