Albums to watch

X’s

Cigarettes After Sex

X’s

Third album of ambient dream pop from the El Paso, Texas quartet produced by front man Greg Gonzalez

ADM rating[?]

6.6

Label
Partisan
UK Release date
12/07/2024
US Release date
12/07/2024
  1. 8.0 |   Mojo

    There are gothy antecedents here – Baby Blue Movie sounds like the ’80s Cure over-medicated in the Hollywood Hills – and if it sustains a certain moodiness, X’s adheres to a tonally one-note atmosphere. Print edition only

  2. 8.0 |   Clash

    The doubters will point to the lack of variation over their discography and find itchy feet here. But with a musical formula this pleasurable on the ears, Cigarettes After Sex will seduce you all over again third time round
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  3. 7.6 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    Possesses an intoxicatingly spacey sense of style, the ambience of the music permeating the atmosphere and remaining like the smell of exhaled smoke. Whether it lingers for seconds, days, months, or even years after is a question entirely dependent on the listener
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  4. 7.0 |   Northern Transmissions

    The impeccable production allows the music to seep into your skin, making it the perfect soundtrack for those main character moments in your life when you need to feel both lost and found in a cinematic haze
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  5. 6.4 |   Spectrum Culture

    It isn’t time to bring out the inevitable impotence quips, but though easily the equal of – if not better than - Cry, there’s not one second of X’s that isn’t exactly as you’d expect
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  6. 6.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    The band doesn’t deviate from their sound, similar to other dream pop acts like Beach House, but instead continue to refine their vision with more clarity, bigger baselines, and a continued promise to envelop you in their hazy, romantic pop noir
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  7. 6.0 |   musicOMH

    There’s an oddly addictive ingredient to Greg Gonzalez’s formula, which this album has in spades. Just don’t let any ex-Prime Ministers listen to it
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  8. 5.0 |   Uncut

    Lyrically, the album plunges into some vulnerable and troubling places, but musically it lacks a similar emotional range, instead feeling static and one-note. Print edition only


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