CMAT is back. The Irish musician released her sophomore effort Crazymad, For Me in 2023, and it was nominated for a Mercury Prize. Today, she announced its followup EURO-COUNTRY and unveiled the single "Running/Planning."
"‘Running/Planning' is about having to chase your own tail to be good enough to exist," she explains, continuing:
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!"
About the album, she adds:
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.
Check out "Running/Planning" below.
EURO-COUNTRY is out 8/29 via AWAL. Pre-order it here.
