Review: Dream-pop band Cigarettes After Sex lights up St. Paul arena with ultra-low flair

A concert that might have gone over better in a meditation studio or sleep-study facility — or really anywhere not involving Bud Light and NHL signage — Tuesday’s ultra-mellow performance by Cigarettes After Sex at Xcel Energy Center still went over surprisingly well.

The low-energy, low-lit, low-frills Texas band with one of the highest-pitched male singers in modern rock seemed a very unlikely arena headliner when it played a pleasantly chill First Avenue gig just two years ago. In the interim, the trio’s delicate, slow-building guitar-pop has taken off as soundtrack fodder for arty, romantic TikTok and YouTube videos.

CAS’s viral traction has been strong enough to get it bumped up to the St. Paul sports arena in just over two years despite scant radio play — an overambitious move, it turned out, especially for a school night.

Only about 8,000 fans showed up Tuesday. Most of them were under 25, and many came wearing black attire, just like CAS’s three band members.

The under-sized crowd created some problems. Empty seats in the upper level caused drummer Jacob Tomsky’s snare to echo back toward fans throughout the 90-minute set. Also, the general-admission pit area in front of the stage was only half-full, leaving a large vacant space between the flat, super-minimalist stage and the rest of the crowd.

Those growing pains aside, the group was able to give its people what they want; including seats. With songs that are almost entirely timid and tender — languid and sluggish even by the standards of other artfully mellow bands such as Beach House or Sigur Rós — Cigarettes After Sex is definitely a live act you want to sit down for, if you can.

Fans who had chairs used them for most of the show, and it wasn’t any kind of sign the group was failing to connect with them. On the contrary, the crowd stayed noticeably tuned-in and zoned-out to the atmospheric melodies starting with the opening song “X’s,” the title track of the trio’s latest album. That was one of only three played off the new record, also including the swooning mid-show highlight “Tejano Blue.”

CAS’s neatly bearded, tight-lipped mastermind, singer/guitarist Greg Gonzalez, proved oddly compelling without any flashy frontman traits typically seen at arena concerts.

The most rock-starry thing about the 41-year-old El Paso native was the leather jacket he wore the entire set. He had no reason to take it off, since he moved so little and played and sang so softly. This guy probably doesn’t even break a sweat on a summer festival stage.

Still, Gonzalez’s softly wavering, high-desert-breeze-like voice showed plenty of personality. He sounded especially transfixing in some of the night’s most romantic and outright sensual tunes, including “Touch” and “Falling in Love” — the latter accompanied by a sea of unsolicited cell-phone lights from the fans.

As the set ever-so-gradually picked up momentum, Gonzalez heard more and more of his Cupid-pointed song lyrics being sung concurrently by the audience. “Cry,” “K.” and the pre-encore finale “Apocalypse” — the latter two from the group’s still-definitive 2017 eponymous album — found some of the loudest accompaniment from fans. Of course, “loud” in this case is a very relative term, but the love in the room felt immensely amped up.