Cigarettes After Sex - X's

Cigarettes After Sex have never been in a hurry, and X's, their third album from 2024, keeps that slow-burn glow while letting a little more heat into the room.

Greg Gonzalez built the band's reputation on hushed vocals, reverb-soaked guitars and lyrics that read like diary entries left on a nightstand. The first two records made that sound a late-night staple for listeners discovering dream pop through their headphones. X's arrives with the same cinematic patience, but the songs feel more specific this time: named places, remembered summers, lovers glimpsed in the rear-view mirror.

Gonzalez produced and recorded the album himself, and the intimacy shows in every breath. Tejano Blue drifts in on a lazy, sunlit sway, its melody hanging in the air like heat haze over an empty highway. Dark Vacay floats on a gentle pulse that is easy to mistake for calm until a lyric catches you off guard, while Baby Blue Movie leans into the band's most openly sensual instincts. Hideaway tucks a quiet ache beneath its soft-focus shimmer.

Pressed on a single LP, this is music for dimmed lamps and long drives after midnight, the kind of record that makes a small room feel enormous. For anyone who fell for the band's velvet melancholy, X's is the next chapter in a very particular kind of heartbreak.