"Ireland's biggest new star" - The Independent
"CMAT – Irish country-pop singer Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – writes funny, bone-deep songs about love and other horrors. She also plays her white acoustic guitar like an axe hero" - The Guardian
"A distinctive voice in every way" - Mojo
CMAT announces her new album EURO-COUNTRY - the Irish star’s “most important record” to date, set for release on August 29. It’s accompanied by new single Running/Planning, out now. She also unveils a mammoth run of live dates - including a high-profile Glastonbury slot and her biggest headliners to date: London’s O2 Academy Brixton and 3Arena on Friday, 5 December 2025.
On Running/Planning - premiered last night as a Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1 - CMAT says:
"Running/Planning’ is about having to chase your own tail to be good enough to exist. It’s an abstracted view of societal pressure on women - specifically through a relationship lens: You start dating someone, you get engaged, you get married, you have kids etc etc etc… everything has to follow this linear pattern. (That’s the reason for the repetitive chorus!). And the minute you don’t follow that path, your mam starts giving out to you. That narrow path that everyone is supposed to be on… the minute you get outside of that, it gets incredibly stressful. And I don’t know anyone who is like, ‘Yeah, love this!"
Despite this being her third album, this fully-formed acronymic star feels like she’s been part of the culture forever. EURO-COUNTRY follows 2023’s brilliant Crazymad, For Me - an album that propelled her to wider attention and garnered numerous accolades: including a BRITs Best International Artist nod; and ‘Best Album’ nominations from the Ivors; Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize in her native Ireland (an award she won for her debut, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead).
Press, radio and television have all been integral in her rise, with numerous covers, five-star reviews, playlists, Maida Vale sessions and TV appearances, including Jools Holland (both Later… and a memorable turn on his Hootenanny) and The Graham Norton Show. A relentless touring schedule with The Very Sexy CMAT Band has cemented her reputation as one of the best live acts around. CMAT today announces a 13-date UK and Ireland tour - starting at the O2 Academy Brixton, London and finishing at the 13,000-capacity 3Arena.
The new album - released via AWAL Recordings - was recorded in New York and co-produced by long-time collaborator Oli Deakin and CMAT. EURO-COUNTRY tackles a number of big themes including personal reflections on economics, identity and grief. It marks another step in the unstoppable rise of CMAT and cements her position as a generational songwriter.
What has endeared fans to her heart-sore tunes and humour is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson’s ability to combine contradictory themes and moods: wide-eye drama with self-deprecation; the fusion of country and pop, with even more influences stretching across decades and genres. EURO-COUNTRY is no different: an aural tight-rope walk that balances big themes, specifically: the impact of economics on a small country, the attention that comes with increased fame (not all of it good) and being a woman.
Speaking about the LP, CMAT said: “EURO-COUNTRY is, I think, the best thing I have ever made. I felt halfway through recording it was the most important record I’ve made for myself… mainly because it was making me go crazy"
“I'm always going to make the work I want to make, because there is a little gremlin in my head that tells me if it’s shit. More than success, there’s a bigger gremlin that wants me to make music that’s really good. She’s brutal and has ruined my life at times, but she is the keeper of my life and she’s always right.”
