Continuing the trend of women taking over as the driving force in pop music, behold the sudden emergence of the inordinately talented Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson. CMAT (for short) is a sharp-witted flame haired Irish singer songwriter fast becoming one of the hottest live tickets in town. The Dubliner is behind a string of startlingly accomplished country-tinged pop singles including the beautifully expansive ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby!” and ‘Where Are Your Kids Tonight?” the latter featuring John Grant on backing vocals.
With second album ‘Crazymad for Me’ hitting the shelves in October supported by barnstorming lead-off single ‘Have Fun’, part Scissor Sisters, part Dollywood, tonight’s appearance at a packed Stylus on her headline tour of the UK and Ireland has seen her tour schedule lengthen, the number of dates in her home city “doubling” from two to four.
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| Photo - Kate Dalton |
Blacked by a quartet of live musicians and emerging to the Sheena Easton classic ‘9 to 5’ CMAT appears like the heroine in a Christmas panto opening with new album opener ‘’California’. Cavorting in front of a full-length mirror centre stage, Thompson is clearly on top form, every bit the mischievous diva with an adoring audience eating out of the palm of her hand, many adorned in pink cowboy hats.
The deliciously surreal ‘Peter Bogdanovic’ is a hoot and ‘Have Fun’ boasts a magnificent slow burner grooviness, the whole place seemingly swaying as one to this superior slice of soft-country rock and is my personal highlight. Naturally everyone else is gagging for “I Want To Be A Cowboy Baby!” and CMAT milks every ounce of call/response from the ecstatic crowd. Superb!
Words - Michael Price
CMAT official