Cigarettes After Sex: I. (12"EP) [SPANISH PRAYERS]

Why you'll love it

This is where it all started for Cigarettes After Sex. "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby" became a word-of-mouth sleeper hit years after it came out, and it's still the band's signature song.

This edition

• 12" EP, 4 tracks
• Spanish Prayers pressing
• Includes "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby"

About the album

Greg Gonzalez started Cigarettes After Sex in El Paso, Texas, and recorded this four-song EP in the stairwell of a university building, which goes some way to explaining that lovely, cavernous hush. Put out quietly in 2012, it went more or less unnoticed at first.

Then "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby" started to spread, one late-night playlist at a time. The other three songs ("I'm a Firefighter," "Dreaming of You" and "Starry Eyes") share the same slow-motion, smoke-filled romance: reverb-soaked guitars, brushed drums and Gonzalez's soft, androgynous voice. It's the blueprint for everything the band has done since.

Recorded in a stairwell, which is the best use of a stairwell we've heard of.

Also at Kops: more Cigarettes After Sex on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

On Spanish Prayers, the 2012 album.