A DREAMY RETURN: CMAT’s NEW SINGLE “RUNNING/PLANNING” AND ALBUM/TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT

SINGLE REVIEW | CMAT – RUNNING/PLANNING by Isobel O’Mahony

Our favourite Irish princess is back with the new single off her pending third album, EURO-COUNTRY. CMAT blew it out of the park with CrazyMad, For Me in 2023, tunes like “California” and “Stay For Something” ringing round my head for months after release. Now, fresh off her support slot with Sam Fender on his European People Watching tour, ‘Dublin’s answer to Dolly Parton’ returns with dreamy country single “Running/Planning”.

The new track is The Chicks-esque with wholesome strings crying slightly in the back. There’s a defining beat of drums, grounding you to the slight melancholic yet brightfully vengeful tone of the song. At the front of the ship, as always, are CMAT’s impressive vocals. Starting off subtle in the beginning, and clambering to the top by the bridge, her voice will always change in ways you won’t expect: she sings the stories of the madwomen, for the madwomen, like a madwoman (it’s perfect).

Like most CMAT tracks, there’s a seductive, subtle violent edge to the song that has you pulled in, wanting more. Perhaps it’s the marriage of country and pop with an Irish touch that makes her music and the new single so interesting. The bright and sharp visuals in the “Running/Planning” music video have her being watched constantly, posing for the camera, losing her mind when not being interviewed or working. Is this tune a personal point to us, the public, at he feelings of being in the public eye? A comment on the lonesome world of stardom? I figure, all will make sense in the eyes of the full album. Often, good records work when listened to as intended, and good singles that stand apart on their own only make the work stronger.

CMAT, in the recent announcement post for the album, recognised that there are three big points she wanted to make. EURO-COUNTRY is first her genre of music, a multicultural mix of genres. It is as well “the type of loss,pain and lack of community” we suffer from under “modern capital isolation”, and it stands as a symbol for her beloved Ireland – “the most toxic boyfriend [she’s] ever had”.

“Running/Planning” has us at the neck waiting for EURO-COUNTRY (releasing on August 29th) as we sit in limbo for the rest of the record. CrazyMad For Me, was a concept album about 47-year-old CMAT and time-travel; with ideas like this in her arsenal, it’s anybody’s guess what’s next, but I for one can’t wait.

CMAT today announces a 13-date UK and Ireland tour – starting at the O2 Academy Brixton, London and finishing at the 12,000-capacity 3 Arena in Dublin. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday April 04 – fans can access pre-sale tickets by pre-ordering the new album before 5pm on Tuesday April https://cmat.ffm.to/EURO-COUNTRY