X's

Cigarettes After Sexs music may feel as wispy as a fading memory, but its also surprisingly enduring. Equal parts afterglow and aftermath, the romantic haze Greg Gonzalez and company create barely changed between 2012s debut EP I. and 2019s sophomore album Cry. On Xs, the tweaks are subtle. Though hearts might skip a beat or two faster on "Holding You, Holding Me" and "Baby Blue Movie," and theres slightly less fog surrounding "Silver Sable," like the albums before it, the bands first full-length in five years plays like an extended dream. Throughout Xs, Gonzalez makes gentle allusions to soft rock and Tejano, using the latter to add color -- literally -- to "Blue Tejano"s bittersweet recollections of his days in El Paso. Even when these influences are more prominent, like the precisely swinging bassline borrowed from Tejano on "Ambien Slide," they never overpower the minimalist melodrama that is still Cigarettes After Sexs greatest strength. Like the xx, theyre experts at using space and whispers to channel echoes of lost love. "Xs" adds a sweetness to its montage of romantic and erotic memories that makes it one of the bands quintessential songs (there isnt a better mission statement of what they do than "dreaming with a filthy heart"). Theyre just as gifted at capturing the moments where doubt threatens to overpower love on songs like "Hot," where Gonzalez wonders if "Ill always be lost forever." While plain-spoken lyrics like these make it easy for listeners to place themselves in Cigarettes After Sexs heartbroken vignettes, Xs frequently feels like some of their most personal work. Written in the wake of a long-term relationships end, songs such as "Hideaway" and "Dreaming of Bunker Hill" have a tear-stained amount of detail that fleshes them out more than much of the bands music. The albums biggest development comes when Gonzalez sings "If time doesnt heal/Youll never feel that good again" on "Ambien Slide," suggesting that the group just might be ready to step away from heartbreak at some point. It may not change the minds of those who think there isnt much to Cigarettes After Sexs music, but Xs delivers enough glamorous brooding to keep fans happily miserable.