Currently comprised of founding member and primary songwriter Greg Gonzalez (vocals, guitar) with Jacob Tomsky (drums) and Randy Miller (bass), the acclaimed Brooklyn-based dream pop act Cigarettes After Sex can trace their origins back to when Gonzalez formed the band in El Paso. TX back in 2008. Their debut EP, 2012’s I received some attention when “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” became a sleeper hit of sorts, after it was licensed for use in commercials.
With the release of 2017’s self-titled debut, Cigarettes After Sex quickly became international sensations. Since its release the album as sold over 550,000 records to date, amassed over 360 million Spotify streams, 2.2 million monthly listeners and 350 million YouTube streams. They’ve been featured in a number of major media outlets including Vice Noisey, V Magazine, Interview, NPR’s Tiny Desk — and their music has appeared in The Handmaid’s Tale, Killing Eve and in a Ralph Lauren ad campaign. Additionally, Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner, Lana Del Rey, Françoise Hardy, Lily Allen, Busy Phillips and a long list of others have claimed to be fans of the band’s work.
During the week of their full-length debut’s release, the members of the Cigarettes After Sex traveled to Mallorca, Spain. And naturally, each of the band’s individual members consciously let the striking location guide what was to become the initial sessions for their forthcoming sophomore album Cry. “The sound of this record is completely tied to the location for me,” Greg Gonzalez explains in press notes. “Ultimately, I view this record as a film. It was shot in this stunning, exotic location, and it stitches all these different characters and scenes together, but in the end is really about romance, beauty and sexuality. It’s a very personal telling of what those things mean to me.”
While the instrumentation came about quickly — often improvised on the spot — it would be another two years before Gonzalez would attempt to complete the material’s accompanying lyrics. Slated for an October 25, 2019 release through Partisan Records, Cigarettes After Sex’s highly-anticipated sophomore album is influenced by a new, burgeoning romantic relationship, the films of Eric Rohmer and the work of Selena and Shania Twain. Thematically, the material is a cinematic and brooding meditation on the many complex facets of love — meeting, wanting, needing and losing . . . sometimes simultaneously. But interestingly enough, Cry will find the band blending the carnal subtly of its predecessor with a warmer sonic palette.
Cry‘s first single is the spectral yet lush “Heavenly.” Centered around Gonzalez’s achingly tender and vulnerable falsetto, hushed and shuffling drumming, shimmering guitar, a sinuous bass line and a soaring hook, the song sonically reminds me a bit of Mazzy Star‘s smash hit “Fade Into You.” And much like “Fade Into You,” “Heavenly” is a feverish, narcoleptic dream that expresses a wild, desperate, swooning longing — the sort that mixes devotion, obsession, love and lust into a confusing and wonderful blur. Of course, the song finds the band managing to craft material that’s as intimate as whispered, sweet nothings to a lover while possessing a cinematic (and larger than life) quality. As the band’s Greg Gonzalez explains, the song was “inspired by the overwhelming beauty I felt watching an endless sunset on a secluded beach in Latvia one summer night…”
The band will be embarking on a global, headlining tour throughout the fall. Some of the earliest announced dates have already sold out, including the October 3, 2019 stop at The Wiltern in Los Angeles and the October 23, 2019 stop at Webster Hall; however, if you’re in NYC, you can still try to get tickets for the October 24, 2019 stop at Brooklyn Steel. Check out the announced dates below — and expect more dates to come.
TOUR DATES:
9/26/19 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
9/27/19 – Seattle, WA – Neptune (SOLD OUT)
9/29/19 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
10/1/19 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
10/3/19 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern (SOLD OUT)
10/4/19 – Santa Ana, CA – Yost Theater (SOLD OUT)
10/5/19 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park (SOLD OUT)
10/7/19 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
10/8/19 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
10/10/19 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
10/11/19 – Kansas City, MO – The Truman
10/12/19 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
10/13/19 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
10/15/19 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee
10/16/19 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall (SOLD OUT)
10/17/19 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
10/18/19 – Covington, KY – Madison Theater
10/19/19 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
10/21/19 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
10/23/19 – New York, NY – Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)
10/24/19 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
10/25/19 – Washington DC – 9:30 Club
10/26/19 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
10/27/19 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
11/2/19 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso (SOLD OUT)
11/3/19 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
11/7/19 – Brussels, BE – Cirque Royal (SOLD OUT)
11/8/19 – Paris, FR – Olympia
11/9/19 – Benidorm, ES – Primavera 20th Anniversary Weekender
11/11/19 – Barcelona, ES – Sala Apolo
11/12/19 – Barcelona, ES – Sala Apolo
11/14/19 – Milan, IT – Alcatraz
11/16/19 – Zurich, CH – Plaza
11/17/19 – Zurich, CH – Plaza
11/18/19 – Vienna, AT – Arena
11/19/19 – Vienna, AT – Arena
11/20/19 – Prague, CZ – Roxy (SOLD OUT)
11/22/19 – Copenhagen, DK – The Grey Hall
11/23/19 – Berlin, DE – Tempodrome
11/25/19 – Cologne, DE – Palladium
11/27/19 – Manchester, UK – Albert Hall
11/28/19 – London, UK – Shepherds Bush Empire (SOLD OUT)
3/23/20 – Bristol, UK – Academy
3/24/20 – London, UK – Hammersmith Apollo
3/25/20 – Birmingham, UK – Institute
3/27/20 – Leeds, UK – University
3/28/30 -Glasgow, UK – Barrowland
3/29/20 – Liverpool, UK – Academy
4/1/20 – Hamburg, DE – Fabrik
4/3/20 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller
4/4/20 – Stockholm, SE – Slaktkyrkan
4/6/20 – Aarhus, DE – Voxhall
4/8/20 – Luxembourg City, LU – den Atelier