It has been five years since Brooklyn-via-El Paso ambient pop collective Cigarettes After Sex's first EP. After millions of views on YouTube, several memorable singles and well-attended live performances in the Europe and US, their first full-length LP is finally slated for June 9th (which is also hopefully when we get a music video that matches the minimalist, evocative imagery of their singles' artwork). In the meantime, fans can lose themselves in the otherworldly reverie of two tracks from the album: "K" and "Apocalypse". Both are solid tracks, but I'm more drawn towards the languid momentum of the latter.
Greg Gonzalez’s vocals are as whispery, intimate, haunting and wistful as before, but “Apocalypse” stands out via its ability to create a sense of urgency and momentum in the midst of the track's familiar slow-burning R&B instrumentation. The words fall beautifully after one another in each verse as Gonzalez conjures that rarified private world that couples create together:
'You leapt from crumbling bridges watching cityscapes turn to dustFilming helicopters crashing in the ocean from way aboveGot the music in you baby,Tell me whyGot the music in you baby,Tell me whyYou’ve been locked in here forever & you just can’t say goodbyeKisses on the foreheads of the lovers wrapped in your armsYou’ve been hiding them in hollowed out pianos left in the dark…Your lips,My lips,ApocalypseGo & sneak us through the rivers,Flood is rising up on your kneesOh please…Come out & haunt meI know you want meCome out & haunt meSharing all your secrets with each other since you were kidsSleeping soundly with the locket that she gave you clutched in your fist…When you’re all aloneI will reach for youWhen you’re feeling lowI will be there too'
