Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, better known as CMAT, is a rising star in the British music scene.
The 25-year-old from Dublin, Ireland has just released her debut album ‘If My Wife New I’d Be Dead’ and it’s all you need during these dark times we live in.
I still remember the day I discovered her and her music.
The song I met her through was ‘I Don’t Really Care for You’ and from the very first seconds, I knew what type of artist CMAT was.
She loves to combine upbeat and energetic music with incredibly honest but depressive lyrics.
This juxtaposition makes CMAT original and shows that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.
This is what her debut album is like; satirical, but beautiful.
The album opens with a song that is arguably the most important and heartbreaking of them all.
‘Nashville’ was inspired by the true story of a man struggling with depression who one day announced to his family and friends that he was moving to California.
However, he never got there, because from the beginning, for him California meant taking his own life.
CMAT chose Nashville in her song because she had always wanted to live there and it was not difficult for her to imagine a condition that would force someone to make such a decision, as she was going through a severe depression while writing this song.
In the next three songs, the singer sings about relationships, but in three different narratives.
The first is I Don’t Really Care for You, which is about breaking up and making the other person realise that the breakdown is on both sides.
Another one, ‘Peter Bogdanovich’, is once again inspired by a true story.
It speaks about Polly Platt, a film producer, and her husband Peter Bogdanovich, who left her for actress Cybill Shepherd.
The song, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful on the entire album.
It begins with the realisation that the other girl is not a ‘bad person’ when it comes to cheating, and that everything has its basis, such as a lack of love from a parent, for example.
/ ‘My daddy didn’t love me, so I guess I moved on to you’. /
The second very important lesson drawn from this song is that none of us are holy and everyone makes mistakes, especially when it comes to feelings.
yesterday to mark my DEBUT ALBUM i played a couple of acoustic instores in @RoughTrade West @banquetrecords and it was lovely to see so many of you come out!! here is some proof that it happened. i'm in lucky's dublin for a couple of instores today but all the tix are gone soz x pic.twitter.com/Q9y20BSoEr
— cmat (@cmatbaby) March 5, 2022
The final part of the saga is ‘No More Virgos’, which serves as comedic relief.
CMAT herself said that the album is very serious and depressive, so she is glad that she managed to create a song that introduces some humour.
No More Virgos makes fun of the fact that the singer chooses the same lovers over and over again despite the warnings of her friends.
Although she is aware of this fact, she doesn’t change her habits.
/ ‘I only made that deal with myself, And you’re treating me well’. /
Another song worth mentioning is ‘Lonely’.
The singer in this track remembers times when she didn’t have a lot of money, struggling with depression and the world around her.
It seems to me that everyone in their lives goes through a moment when everything is not as it should be and we don’t even have anyone who would listen to us, but no one is talking about it.
And no one is singing about it.
CMAT, however, freely admits in her music that sometimes she is vulnerable.
/ ‘I’m so lonely, And I don’t have any real friends, Other people are just means to an end’ /
The album’s next tracks include ‘2 Wrecked 2 Care’ and ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’; both of them showing the effects of depression.
In the former, we learn about the singer’s sleep problems.
/ ‘Four hours sleep, I’m grateful, One hour sleep, I’m the missing link, Between the living and the dead’ /
In I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!, we feel the pain of social anxiety that CMAT experienced, and as for many of us, the singer describes that when you have depression, it’s as if the whole world is going on but we are standing still.
She sings: ‘Always the cowboy, never the cow’, meaning that she always has to rely on someone and cannot be self-sufficient.
The emotional journey around the album ends with the track ‘I’d Want U’, written by CMAT at the age of 17 and thanks to which she was noticed and gained a manager.
The singer confessed that she waited for the right moment to finish it and give it the appropriate treatment.
The song has its roots in country music, which is very close to CMAT, and tells the story of a girl whom the singer met at a party and immediately liked and was curious about.
Overall, I have no doubt that CMAT will soon not be just my secret, but an extremely appreciated artist.
This is already happening, as her April 8 and 9 concerts in London are sold out.
I would describe the entire album as talking to a best friend who understands you without words and with whom you can be completely honest.
Most songs talk about depression and social anxiety, but listening to them is very comforting because CMAT doesn’t hide anything.
She is not afraid of her feelings and does not make depression a taboo subject.
The songs that I think stand out from the rest are Nashville, Peter Bogdanovich, No More Virgos and 2 Wrecked 2 Care.
Give CMAT a listen and look out for her gig at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms on November 28!
Rating: 9.5/10
Feature Image Credit: Grandstand Media