Ten years ago, Greg Gonzalez was having a really rough Valentine’s Day. Freshly heartbroken with no hope of reconciliation, he spent two hours driving from his hometown El Paso to play a show, and he listened to Sade’s “By Your Side” on repeat both ways. “The experience that day stuck in my bones—it was an idea that I couldn’t forget,” says Gonzalez, the frontman of Cigarettes After Sex. “I thought, how do I make a record that feels like that?”

Filled with raw, imagistic, sometimes smutty vignettes set to entrancing, slowburn pop songs, Gonzalez knows how to capture every emotion a romantic arc inspires. But where previous albums have drawn from an amalgam of relationships, for the most part, his anticipated third album ‘X’s’ centralizes on just one relationship that spanned four years. “The record feels brutal,” admits Gonzalez. “I could sit and talk about this loss to someone, but that wouldn’t scratch the surface. I have to really write about it, sing about it, have the music, and then I can start to analyze and learn from it. Or just relive it—in a good way. I don’t have that Eternal Sunshine-thing of wanting to forget.”

This period was one of immense personal growth for Gonzalez, but it was also during these years that Cigarettes After Sex—completed by drummer Jacob Tomsky and bassist Randall Miller—hit staggering new levels in their career, transitioning from a preeminent indie act to one of the most globally accomplished acts across any genre.

And still, Cigarettes After Sex maintain their mystique, fans sharing their music like an illicit secret and this poignant ten song collection will certainly stoke the flames. While continuing to observe classic pop song structures, Gonzalez has moved away from the prior sonic touchstones of the ‘50s and ‘60s, finding himself now drawn to a ‘70s/’80s slow dance. While (in typical Cigarettes style) these changes may be subtle, the overall resulting energy is akin to disco ball-refracted tears on the dance floor.