Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
There are so many different artists who conform to the Irish folk genre of music, but none of them have contorted the style of the genre the way CMAT, Ciera Mary-Alice Thompson, has in her most recent album, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead.
Thompson has always been an open book when it comes to the battles she has faced throughout her life, both before her career took off, and after. She is especially explicit about her struggles with the opening track, Nashville. Nashville opens with a flurry of beautiful instrumentals, before Ciera’s folky falsetto vocals join the music. She sings about feeling accomplished in life and how she dreams of going to Nashville. However, as you keep listening to the lyrics, though the unbelievable smoothness and deep emotion in her voice acts as a distraction, it becomes apparent. Oh. She’s singing about taking her own life. She’s actually not singing about feeling accomplished in life, she’s singing about her life being as good as it’s ever going to get. The meaning gives a sharp contrast to the beauty and upbeat nature of the song, leaving you on your toes for the rest of the journey.

Throughout the rest of the album, CMAT covers her inability to sleep properly in 2 Wrecked 2 Care, loneliness in Lonely and breaking up with boyfriends in several songs, but funnily enough, it’s hard to feel down listening to her music, as although the lyrics are sad, none of it feels that way. That’s what makes this album different. The mixture of the Irish folk style, the difficult themes and the instrumentals that you can’t help but dance to, makes it completely and utterly unpredictable. The only thing you can rely on staying consistent is Thompson’s incredible energy and her whimsical, enchanting singing voice.
The album is filled with plenty of other tracks that aren’t about killing yourself. She has plenty of songs about dating and boys, like No More Virgos and I Don’t Really Care for You, which are both bouncy, dancing tunes that will make you reminisce on the hate you feel for every person you’ve ever been romantically involved with. However, if you’re still in the midst of your heartbreak you may want to opt for Groundhog Day or I’d Want U, with their melancholic melodies to keep your broken heart company. And then there are all the songs in between, but you’ll have to listen to the album to see what you think of those.
Check out her album on Spotify, as well as her new single, Mayday: