Courtesy of Odyssey
On Aug. 29, Irish singer-songwriter Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, known as CMAT, released her third studio album, “EURO-COUNTRY.” CMAT is a rising Irish country-indie-pop star. From topping Irish charts, nominations from the BRIT awards and performing at featured UK festivals, CMAT has caught international attention.
Her music weaves Irish tradition and history into present-day social issues through personable and catchy lyrics, pulling on threads of Celtic folk music, American country and modern pop to establish the Euro-country genre.
The title track “EURO-COUNTRY” is a danceable pop anthem. The song begins with a slow, unmetered refrain in the Irish language, which is an important symbol of national pride and history. The rest of the song is in English, but her lyrics explicitly call out the Irish government’s responsibility in the social and economic impacts of the 2008 crash: which were felt by working class communities.
In the mid-1990s to early 2000s, the Irish economy experienced a major boom, gaining the name “Celtic Tiger.” Yet, like many countries around the world in 2008, it underwent a housing bubble burst, leading to mass unemployment and an economic downturn, outlined in the verses, “And it was normal / Building houses / That stay empty even now, yeah / And no one says it out loud, but I know it can be better if we hound it.”
Ireland saw an increase in suicide rates in working-class men following the 2008 crash, which had a devastating social impact on Irish communities. CMAT’s lyrics address this issue: “All the big boys / All the Berties / All the envelopes, yeah they hurt me / I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me.” The lyrics refer to Bartholomew Patrick “Bertie” Ahern, who served as Ireland’s prime minister from 1997 to 2008.
Influence from American country music and its culture is central to CMAT’s first album, “If My Wife New I’d Be Dead.” In the songs “Nashville” and “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!” the lyrics express a fantasy of becoming a country star or a cowboy.
In an interview with Vogue this year, CMAT commented on the appeal of country music to the Irish working-class community she grew up in:
“This is a genre that inherently allows voiceless people to come to the front,” she said.
Thus, the genre Euro-country, coined by CMAT, bridges the sentiment felt in working-class communities of loss and anger, and of imagining something better, that is core to the country and folk traditions of the United States — all while keeping Ireland at the heart.
CMAT’s lyrics are confessional and make no effort to sweep doubt, fear of missing out or grief under the rug, all while maintaining a healthy dose of humor. “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” is a standout song on the album, addressing the ironies and burdens of women’s beauty standards that breed insecurity at all stages of life. The first verse riffs on childhood memories that are shaped by the longing to be desirable, “Ever since I was a little girl / I only wanted to be sexy / Nine years old, tryna wax my legs with tape,” but the later verses poke at the standard that women are supposed to look much younger than they are: “And make me look fourteen, oh / Or like ten, or like five / Or like two, like a baby / Whoever it is that you’re gonna love / So you’ll be nice to me.”
“The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station” is campy, upbeat and will have you belting out the chorus. “When a Good Man Cries” and “Tree Six Foive” are the most stereotypically country, delivering playful fiddle melodies and a driving train beat on the drums.
“EURO-COUNTRY” is an album that you can dance and cry to, but it also achieves a powerful political message without compromising her distinct style. CMAT portrays national grief and pride as well as lyrics that reflect her personal struggles of being a woman in a consumerist-capitalist society. Her voice delivers a range of emotions with a commanding soprano, and her presence as a live entertainer and public figure is unapologetically authentic. If you have not listened to “EURO-COUNTRY” yet, you are missing out on an icon in the making.
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