Dublin, IE · alt-country-pop

CMAT

5 upcoming festivals ↓

Irish country-pop with a wicked sense of humor and a bigger voice — a riotous live show that swings from comedy to gut-punch inside one chorus.

CMAT is the stage name of Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, born in Dublin in 1996 and raised in Clonee and later Dunboyne, County Meath. Her family, which includes several nurses and a teacher, hoped she would pursue a more stable career, and her early years revolved around the Catholic church, an experience she disliked until she joined the choir.

As a child she listened to Dolly Parton and later became fixated on the Beatles; seeing Taylor Swift on television and Emma Roberts in a comedy show pushed her to learn guitar and start writing songs at twelve, though she was embarrassed by those early attempts.

In 2016 she formed a band called Bad Sea with her then-boyfriend, playing early festival slots around Dublin. The following year she moved to Manchester to be closer to the UK music industry, working retail and nightclub jobs while travelling to London for gigs and songwriting sessions.

Her music draws on country, 1970s pop and glam, with big melodies and lyrics that swing between broad comedy, self-deprecation and sudden emotional directness. She sings in her own accent and writes in detail about small humiliations, family and Irish life.

She released her debut album, If My Wife New I'd Be Dead, in 2022, followed by Crazymad, For Me in 2023 and Euro-Country in 2025. Her live shows are known for their theatricality and between-song patter, with CMAT working the crowd as much as she sings to it.

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alt-country-pop