Cry (Deluxe Edition) - 2019 European Partisan label 9-track LP

Second album from dreamy and ambientish American slowcore combo... while Cigarettes After Sex’s sound may be most associated with the romantic pop music of the late 50’s and early 60’s, Gonzalez pushes into more unexpected sonic territory on ‘Cry’, reaching back to his childhood in El Paso, Texas, to draw subtle melodic influence from 90’s Tejano stars like Selena and mainstream pop country artists like Shania Twain. Gonzalez pushes himself lyrically on the album, too, tackling sex with the graphic frankness of Henry Miller or Leonard Cohen as he renders unabashed, sometimes explicitly erotic scenes with a casual candor. Writing with a filmmaker’s eye, he captures tiny moments with a rich, cinematic detail that manages to locate the profound within the mundane.

That marriage of sound and setting is the heart and soul of ‘Cry’, Cigarettes After Sex’s riveting sophomore album. Recorded in a stunning house on the Spanish island of Mallorca, the collection reflects the uneasy beauty, erotic longing, and stark minimalism of the space, all smooth lines and soft light. Gonzalez let the location guide his writing, penning nearly all of the instrumental work in spontaneous fits of inspiration captured every night between 9pm and 2am in the house’s high-walled, outdoor courtyard. While the music seemed to pour from him all at once, it would be nearly two years before Gonzalez would finally attempt to match those performances with words, and the result is a collection of songs that toy with time as a linear notion, a dreamy meditation on sex and romance that merges past and present into a slow, reverb-soaked swirl.

Nearly every review honed in on the romantic darkness of the music and the haunting androgyny of Gonzalez’s vocals, and the album was a fixture on roundups and year-end lists: Rolling Stone named Cigarettes After Sex an Artist You Need To Know, NPR listeners voted them one of the year’s top new discoveries, and The Guardian dubbed the band’s “noir dreampop” as “among 2017’s best.” In addition to being a critical smash, the record was also a streaming juggernaut, approaching one billion plays across all platforms and landing the band dates on five continents along with festival slots from Primavera and Best Kept Secret to Lollapalooza and Reading & Leeds.

This is the limited deluxe edition - pressed on 180 gram vinyl - includes lyric book, poster and download code - housed in a silver foil based gatefold picture cover

Tracklisting:

Side 1:
1    Don't Le Me Go    
2    Kiss It Off Me    
3    Heavenly    
4    You're The Only Good Thing In My Life    

Side 2:
5    Touch    
6    Hentai    
7    Cry    
8    Falling In Love    
9    Pure