NEW SINGLE RELEASE – Lo Lauren ‘Monster’
30 November 2023
This might be my most biased review yet, as I don’t think I’ve appreciated a musical artist as much as I do with CMAT (and I might have had breakfast with her earlier this week).
CMAT had a lot to live up to following the release, and subsequent critical success, of her Choice Music Prize-winning debut album ‘If My Wife New I’d Be Dead’. Her first project boasted sweet pop numbers with a country-twist, with witty lines about the trials and tribulations of growing up and finding your place in the world. ‘Crazymad, For Me’, is a concept album that tackles a breakup, a malfunctioning time machine (crafted from a YouTube tutorial) that takes CMAT to a desert, and explores her fascination with 1980s Paris.
‘California’ is a cathartic opener, with tender strings accompanying CMAT’s unmistakably unique voice, delivered with her native Dublin twang. This track reminds me of ‘Nashville’ (the country-pop opener of her debut album) as it highlights the thoughts of physically escaping your life and leaving everyone behind for a fresh start in the sun, or a metaphorical move away. The lyrics are self-aware and self-assuring – “They’re gonna make a movie of it / They’re gonna cast Jake Gyllenhaal”. CMAT’s confident and wildly relatable lyrics continue – “I’m crazy but I’m never wrong” is a promise made by CMAT to her ex in track two – ‘Phone Me’. The chorus feels theatrical, with high string stabs and punchy drums. This song feels honest in a dramatic way, a theme we see in later tracks
I’ve seen CMAT live on a number of occasions and been lucky enough to hear ‘Rent’ at these shows. It’s a guitar-led, heart-wrenching, emotional outpouring of the toxicity of CMAT’s past relationship and the position she got into where she felt trapped – “I found lashes on the DVD case / you said they were mine / said they were mind / never my style but I didn’t wanna get on the wrong side”. Similar track ‘Such A Miranda’ opens with thick pads and melancholy guitar, and a reference to Sex and The City. ‘Crazymad, For Me’ isn’t short of pop culture references, as in piano-led ‘Vincent Kompany’ – “Spend sixteen hours watching Gilmore Girls quite comfortably / I was crazy back then!” Recent single ‘Where Are Your Kids Tonight?’ is a duet with the legendary John Grant, whose dulcet tones are the perfect backbone for a sassy CMAT to show her range. ‘Have Fun’ is the albums therapeutic final chapter, that pokes fun at the turmoil of the relationship and the feelings experienced (it also features some bloody amazing fiddle solos, so there’s something for everyone).
The ability to create such a powerful body of work from one relationship shows CMAT’s emotional maturity as an artist and her incredible skill in songwriting. Reflecting on the album she says she wanted to make a Meatloaf album – “like Bat Out Of Hell, but for the girls’. This is an album that will undoubtedly broaden CMAT’s audience and attract a new wave of fans, but also satisfy her seas of obsessed teenage fan girls.
Catch CMAT live in November and December 2023: