Cigarettes After Sex announce their new LP, titled ‘X’s’, set for release on 12 July via Partisan Records.
The upcoming album is accompanied by the announcement of a tour that will span the entire globe including Asia extending into 2025, including stops in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, and Bangkok, as well as shows at some of the globe’s most iconic venues like Madison Square Garden and London’s O2 Arena.
The performance in Malaysia will be held on 11 January 2025 at the Sunway Lagoon, while the band will also be performing in Hong Kong on 9 January, Manila on 14 January, Jakarta on 17 January and Bangkok on 21 January.
Filled with raw, imagistic, sometimes smutty vignettes set to entrancing, slowburn pop songs, band leader Greg Gonzalez captures every emotion a romantic arc inspires. But where previous albums have drawn from an amalgam of relationships, for the most part, ‘X’s’ centralises on just one relationship that spanned four years.
“The record feels brutal,” admits Gonzalez. “I could sit and talk about this loss to someone, but that wouldn’t scratch the surface. I have to really write about it, sing about it, have the music, and then I can start to analyse and learn from it. Or just relive it – in a good way. I don’t have that Eternal Sunshine-thing of wanting to forget.”
While continuing to observe classic pop song structures, Gonzalez has moved away from the prior sonic touchstones of the ‘50s and ‘60s, finding himself now drawn to a ‘70s/’80s slow dance. While (in typical Cigarettes style) these changes may be subtle, the overall resulting energy is akin to disco ball-refracted tears on the dance floor.
February 29 also marks the release of the record’s first single, “Tejano Blue”, a nod to the music of bandleader Greg Gonzalez’s Texas childhood, resulting in the most instantly memorable version (and liveliest tempo) yet of the band’s signature sensual, timeless, love songs.
