Irish pop star CMAT is releasing her new album EURO-COUNTRY tomorrow via AWAL. She's already released a few excellent singles, including "Take A Sexy Picture Of Me," "Running/Planning," and "The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station." She's releasing another one before the album officially comes out called "When A Good Man Cries." It might be my favorite one yet.
The single is an immediately gripping country-rock classic that recalls Stevie Nicks or Tom Petty. It's packed with stinging lines like "How do you act when the daddy’s not home? Dorian Graying if the door’s closed?" and "I’ve never changed, But lord I’m tryna/ The people’s mess, Dunboyne Diana." The song is filled with reflection, remorse, and redemption. She hints at wanting to change her habits in return for self-love ("Not hate myself, help me love other people"). It ends in a jubilant climax where her vocals are on their knees with their hands raised to the heavens. Even when grappling with personal demons, CMAT takes us on a vital jaunt.
EURO-COUNTRY is gearing up to be a really strong album. In a statement on the project, CMAT said: "I would consider this my most country record, as in, steeped in the traditions of country. But neither Oli [Deakin, producer] or I wanted to make something that we'd heard before. If we know that the thing we're doing already exists, we have to fight against it, and find a more interesting, more beautiful way of making it. So there’s slide guitar and fiddle playing, but to a lot of listeners it will sound not country, but it is! We were just trying to bend the barriers of it a bit."
The album's title also is a play on how destructive capitalism is -- when her home is ruled by the euro. She added:
'EURO-COUNTRY' is the name I’ve given to the pain of the loss of community that has happened over the last twenty to thirty years. Nobody is hanging out anymore, nobody is talking to each other, nobody is living together anymore. The shape of life, not just family life, but adult life, has completely transformed from the way it was before the internet and gig economy and I feel like it’s so responsible for so much of the societal and mental health issues that are really drilling everyone under the age of 35 right now. It feels so individualistic. It feels like such a product of late capitalism. And I couldn’t get it out of my head.
Watch the Eilís Doherty-directed video for "When A Good Man Cries" below.
EURO-COUNTRY is out 8/29 via AWAL.
