New Music: CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY

Should a song make you angry, upset you almost to the point of tears? EURO-COUNTRY does both and more for me. But it also demonstrates the growing cultural impact of CMAT with her impending new album.

Nostalgia is often couched in warm and wistful tones, but not here. The track looks at how the 2008 financial crash affected a pre-teen CMAT as the Celtic Tiger seemed to collapse overnight. A wave of male suicide, bankruptcy, and evictions caused in large part by reckless politicians have led to a situation where a massive slice of Irish housing is owned by rapacious hedge funds.  

Where I grew up, there were sports fields that were given the grim nicknamed ‘The Hanging Gardens.’ Post Celtic Tiger, they were incredibly and sadly busy. And it seems we don’t learn from history, as the same things are once again possible. Comments on the video for the song have commented on how many of the shops in the background have closed since it was filmed a few months. People go into detail about how their families were affected then and now.

Some songs tap into a zeitgeist, some have a hand in creating them, and I suspect – if not hope – EURO-COUNTRY might do the latter. Especially as some of those politicians of the time are trying to rehabilitate themselves into power. Its impact will be amplified by the BBC decision to censor the Irish language part of the song.

The song is the title track of her new album, which CMAT has said is about the “type of loss, pain and lack of community that she feels that are suffering from under modern capital isolation” and the “best thing she has ever made”. From the tracks that we’ve heard so far, she is probably right about the latter.

The EURO-COUNTRY LP is out on the 29th of August and can be pre-ordered on the CMAT website. There’s an extensive tour later this year – check out the artist’s Instagram and TikTok for venue and ticket details. UK dates are already sold out, but let’s just hope more are on the way.