Day 6: CMAT – Euro-Country
Album art courtesy of CMATBaby and AWAL
Euro-country? No, euro-country! OK, that joke only makes sense when you say it out loud but not so much when you write it. I saw the crack of CMAT’s bum before I ever heard her sing, and while that usually doesn’t entail anything good, the exception makes the rule. When CMAT went to the Brit Awards in a crack-bearing gown and was not the least bit camera-shy with it, I knew that was woman after my own heart — and that was before I had even heard her music.
My instincts were right that time, because boy is she something else. The Irish country pop star is an artist, the likes of which I don’t think we’ve seen. She’s a great singer and has charisma in troves, but what really sets her apart is her songwriting. The country music narrative storytelling paired with her sense of humour and willingness to dive into difficult topics head-on makes her feel like she’s a new kind of pop star. At the moment, she almost feels unparalleled.
The songs are about any number of things, from realising that she’s a bit too much of a hater when pondering her irrational, seething hatred of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, to her relationship with her homeland, to men, to capitalism, to grief. “Lord, Let That Tesla Crash” is one of the most devastating songs I’ve heard, probably ever. I had to sit in silence and process it for a good few minutes after. “Iceberg” is another high point of the album – it’s simple and sweet and I love the chorus.
CMAT describes the song “Tree Six Foive” as “A stupid song written by a stupid person,” which is really all I want from music sometimes. As a fellow stupid person, I feel seen. There’s something about her writing that’s just so relatable, she’s putting into words experiences and thoughts I haven’t been able to express with the clarity that she does. “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” manages to describe something so uncomfortable and horrifying about the shared experience of being a woman, all the while being light-hearted enough to make you chuckle. A talent!
This is the highest I’ve gone in my whopping six days of album-a-daying: Euro-Country gets 9.0/10. It’s actually a bit of a masterpiece.