White-Hot American Ambient Pop Group Cigarettes After Sex to Light Up Tango 3F, Aug 21

Since 2015, Texan ambient pop quartet Cigarettes After Sex have been steadily building an enthused following with a string of singles that are hypnotically haunting. Beijing fans of such subtle downcast tunes will surely enjoy their August 21 gig at Tango 3F.

Aside from choosing one of the best band names we've heard of in a long time, Cigarettes After Sex also won us over with their eponymous debut LP, released last month. Frontman Greg Gonzalez's singing is high and melodious enough to give the songs an androgynous quality that aptly overlaps with the music's hazy, ambiguous tones.

"K.", the album's opening number, successfully sets the scene with lustfully lovelorn lyrics and drumming that's so soft it sounds distant. "Sunsetz," is another standout because of its melancholy electric guitar notes, along with lyrics about fading dusk light on the face of a long since departed old flame.

Upon the album's release, popular music news site Pitchfork praised Gonzalez for writing "modern love songs set to downbeat dream pop. Much like relationships themselves, the songs on this ... LP are full of contradictions." The Guardian was even more impressed, calling it "Addictive, memorable and with the potential to reach an audience far wider than the cult following that normally awaits this kind of stuff, they’re the reason why an album where every track’s sonic components are more or less the same never feels monotonous or boring."

Cigarettes After Sex will play Tango 3F on August 21. Tickets cost RMB 220 or RMB 180 in advance.

Photos: The Guardian