2021 was quite a year for Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, (CMAT) one of the year’s breakout stars, earning critical recognition as well as a legion of new fans a run of self-released singles such as ‘Another Day (KFC)’ 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 2fm, 8 Radio, BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6Music.
Her debut album If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, set for release via AWAL Recordings this Friday March 4
With a nod to country music, pop hooks, a sense of fun and wonderful downhome imagery, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead is an idiosyncratic, captivating and rather extraordinary debut album revealing an artist brimming with confidence and verve
CMAT says, “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”.
CMAT will continue to blow it all up in Dolans Warehouse this Thursday March 10.
