CMAT Shares New Single 'Every Bottle Is My Boyfriend'

CMAT today shares new single "Every Bottle Is My Boyfriend," taken from her debut album If My Wife New I'd Be Dead, set for release via AWAL Recordings on March 4th 2022. "Every Bottle Is My Boyfriend" finds CMAT in typically candid form on this hook-laden nugget that pulls on the heartstrings and screams "future karaoke classic."

On the new single, CMAT says "This is a song about being definitely chaotic, because being that, an agent of chaos, is something quite defiant for a girl to do. It almost didn't make the album. But then I managed to shoehorn in a line about the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) and I felt happy it was representative of my drinking habits."

In support of If My Wife New I'd Be Dead, CMAT - aka Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson - arrives in Austin with her full band in tow for two official SXSW showcases, before moving to to her solo mini-tour of the US, kicking off in LA March 21st before playing Nashville and Brooklyn. In addition, the Dublin cowgirl has booked a full UK and Ireland headline tour, alongside confirms for 2022 festivals Primavera, Standon Calling, Deer Sheds and more. Remaining tickets for her U.S. solo shows are on-sale now.

If My Wife New I'd Be Dead is available for pre-order here.

Few artists manage to blend bountiful hooks with such humor and wit; the 12 songs that make up this idiosyncratic, captivating and rather extraordinary debut album reveal an artist brimming with confidence and verve. 2021 was quite a year for Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, one of the year's breakout stars, earning critical recognition as well as a legion of new fans.

You'd be forgiven for finding it confusing that Ciara's disparate tastes - an encyclopedic knowledge of modern pop, a passion for British post-punk outfits like Orange Juice and Television, a desire and strong belief that Robbie Williams is her real dad - can come together and somehow all make sense in CMAT's music, but it all makes sense to Ciara, and it makes even more sense when you hear her debut album. Which is probably why Ciara's a popstar and the rest of us aren't.

"All the former versions of myself have Play-Doh-balled themselves into one big lump," is her way of describing her sound. The golden thread in all this is Ciara's voice, which sits her somewhere between Kate Bush and, most importantly, country turns like Dolly Parton. "I learned how to sing through country music: it's the number one influence on how I sing," she explains. "So while I'm not a country musician, I do think I'm a country singer. It's glam. It's tacky. It's beautiful. It's fun. It's vibrant. Lyrically those artists like to have fun."

The invention of CMAT came about after Ciara strong-armed her way into a private songwriting masterclass hosted by Charli XCX, who played unreleased music to assembled hopefuls. Ciara was the only attendee to offer a critique of the demos; afterwards Charli sought her out, heard her story and advised Ciara to "blow my entire life up". She knocked Manchester on the head and went back to Dublin. 2019 was spent on YouTube, where she set herself the challenge of writing a song a week for six months, posting new songs each Friday from the only venue she could afford to book: a yoga studio.

By 2020 her DIY ethic was bearing fruit with a run of self-released singles such as "Another Day (KFC)", 'Rodney', "I Don't Really Care For You" and "I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby!", scoring coverage from Wonderland, Clash, Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Line Of Best Fit, The Fader and more, plus radio support from BBC Radio 1 & BBC 6Music. CMAT's name has popped up in a number of 2022 tip lists, including Dork, DIY, Gigwise and more.

At the heart of all this, beneath what CMAT describes as "the singing and the being witty and all the 'whatever' that comes with the smoke and mirrors of being a musician", is a belief in the power of songwriting. "Other stuff needs work," she declares. "I can't do production, I can barely play guitar, and I should probably do more to look after my voice. But I'm really, really good at writing songs."

Listen to the new single here:

Tour Dates

Mar 14: DIY showcase, SXSW, Austin
Mar 16: Music from Ireland showcase, SXSW, Austin
Mar 21: The Peppermint Club, Los Angeles
Mar 23: The Basement, Nashville
Mar 24: Union Pool, Brooklyn

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