Irish Songwriter CMAT Distills Deep Dives Into Relatable Pop

CMAT might look like one of those specialized tests you have to take to get into a post-graduate program, but this stage name is actually the initials of Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, a Dublin pop singer whose cleverly-titled debut LP If My Wife New I’d Be Dead was a hit in Ireland last year. With cultural references that range from Belgian football manager Vincent Kompany to Gilmore Girls, (she also loves Patsy Cline), CMAT knows how to take a deep dive down a topical rabbit hole and make it into relatable pop. She distills her maximalist tendencies down to an unplugged, intimate setting, playing songs from her brand-new record, Crazymad, For Me, in-studio. 

Set list: “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”, “Rent”, “I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby”

Watch "Rent":

Watch "I wanna be a cowboy baby":

I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! by CMAT