Cigarettes After Sex – “Bubblegum” & “Stop Waiting”
Greg Gonzalez’s Brooklyn-based project Cigarettes After Sex has been making hazy, dreamy pop songs for many years, and they’ve quietly become absolutely fucking huge. Last year, the band’s 2016 track “K.” became the soundtrack of a random smudged-lipstick TikTok meme. For most bands, that would be like winning the lottery, but “K.” isn’t even Cigarettes After Sex’s biggest song; 2017’s “Apocalypse” is closing in on a billion Spotify plays. Cigarettes After Sex are getting this big with no major-label system backing them and no mainstream visibility. That’s beautiful! The band’s two new songs are also extremely pretty.
Today, Cigarettes After Sex share the new jams “Bubblegum” and “Stop Waiting.” Both track fit nicely within this band’s comfort zone. “Bubblegum” is a deep-concentration head-nodder with strummy acoustic guitars and gothed-out swells of atmospheric bass. The six-minute “Stop Waiting” is a soft, twinkly jam that plays as an extended sight. On both tracks, Greg Gonzalez sings about being horny in a creaky half-whisper. This is some real self-conscious makeout music, and you can hear both tracks below.
“Bubblegum” b/w “Stop Waiting” is out now on Spanish Prayers/Partisan.