CMAT: Euro-Country (CD)

It’s almost inconceivable that it’s only five years since the arrival of CMAT, as she approaches the release of her third album, EURO-COUNTRY. This BRITs / Mercury / Ivors-nominated acronymic star feels like she’s been part of the culture forever - and what has endeared fans to her heart-sore tunes and humour is CMAT's ability to combine contradictory themes and moods: wide-eye drama with self-deprecation.

Country music has always been a lynchpin for CMAT, but this is country in an augmented, reimagined way. Mixed with classic indie and affirmative soul-pop, it resists the music industry’s desire to pigeonhole artists as one genre. Not only is there a palpable tonal shift, EURO-COUNTRY also feels like a huge step-up creatively. There is a sense of determination, of urgency, of ‘gather round and listen up’.

From re-evaluating where you come from (geographically, metaphorically) and the impact of economics on a small country, to the attention that comes with increased fame (not all of it good) and being a woman in the music industry.

1. Billy Byrne From Ballybrack, The Leader Of The Pigeon Convoy
2. EURO-COUNTRY
3. When A Good Man Cries
4. The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station
5. Tree Six Foive
6. Take A Sexy Picture Of Me
7. Ready
8. Iceberg
9. Coronation St.
10. Lord, Let That Tesla Crash
11. Running/Planning
12. Janis Joplining