PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE GULLICK
Selected praise for Cardinals:
“The next great guitar band to emerge from Ireland.”
Rolling Stone UK
“Set on writing future classics, the five-piece’s captivating sound traverses both the atmospheric bluster of Echo and the Bunnymen and the scratchy indie of Yo La Tengo.”
NME
“Impressively confident, swaggering indie-rock.”
Stereogum
“It looks like another music giant could be about to step out of Ireland.”
DIY
“Reminiscent of ‘Fables…’ era R.E.M. in places, it adds some folksy elements – the slight swing in the rhythm, the accordion notes – to the mixture. Open and organic, Cardinals seem confident enough to let their music breathe. A sign, perhaps, of the precocity of their live shows, or the naivety of youth.”
CLASH
“Cork’s genre-defying Cardinals channel their city’s idiosyncrasies into a dizzying artistic revolution.”
DORK
Today Cork’s acclaimed Cardinals announce their much-anticipated debut album ‘Masquerade’. Set to land February 13th on tastemaker label So Young Records, the ten song album was recorded with producer Shrink at RAK Studios, London across the summer. It’s a record that is at once grand and intimate, awash with romance and flickers of holy imagery, and most of all, it’s an undeniable fulfilment of the innate promise the band have shown since their earliest beginnings.
These are emotionally expansive songs, some simmering with an undercurrent of violence, cynicism or fervent discontent (Anhedonia, The Burning of Cork, Barbed Wire) and others gleaming with a bright-eyed vulnerability. A vivid first half contrasts a darker second and crafts a record with a clear A-side and B-side. A nod to the band’s collective love of vinyl, that tonal shift takes its cue from a variety of expected and unexpected influences – from the brittle honesty of folk to the theatrical melodrama of goth-rock.
A band forged through both family and friendship – brothers Euan and Finn Manning, their cousin Darragh and their former schoolmates Oskar Gudinovic and Aaron Hurley – the five-piece have already positioned themselves at the vanguard of the Irish independent rock scene. And with ‘Masquerade’, they have flung off any shackles to craft something entirely their own.
‘Masquerade’ will be released on all physical formats including a Rough Trade exclusive Galaxy vinyl, Retail and Artist store variants as well as CD and cassette (exclusively via the band’s store). Those in Australia will also be able to order an exclusive edition via Impressed.
PRE-ORDER ‘MASQUERADE’ HERE
The band also share the title track to the album today, an enthralling, immediate song that feels at once both vulnerable and universal.
Frontman Euan Manning says of the new record and their new single:
“Something the record looks at is peeling back the ‘masquerade’ or the facade we all put up. The curtain is pulled and cynicism takes its place – it’s really easy to be cynical and far harder to be hopeful and genuine. We’ve learnt this through playing and touring but you can’t be a total cynic if you’re making music or films or whatever it is, making art forces you to dig deeper than that protective layer. Stripping it back is painful, you can find things you’re really not proud of but it also lends itself to a sort of acceptance that can’t be attained if you don’t allow yourself that vulnerability. A lot of the themes and ideas in the album come from that place.”
“The song Masquerade is the broadest exploration of that. It’s definitely one of the more intimate moments on the album. The vulnerability it reveals is uncomfortable and that’s where we wanted to be when we were writing the songs on the record.”
The announce of ‘Masquerade’ follows the warmly received ‘Big Empty Heart’ single, the only song Cardinals have previously released that makes the track list of their debut album, last year’s one-off single ‘Get It’ and before that an acclaimed self-titled debut EP. These songs rightly saw the band picking up attention internationally, the accordion adding a traditional Irish element to their songs and sound that felt both familiar and at once startlingly new.
LISTEN TO ‘MASQUERADE’ HERE
After recent live performances including Fontaines D.C.’s massive Finsbury Park all-dayer, supporting Wunderhorse twice in Dublin and a return to the US last week to support The Pogues in Boston, they remain Stateside currently for the last of a string of headline dates there before returning to the UK to headline the So Young tour with Mên An Tol and Pebbledash later this month.
The band have also shared details of a headline tour across mainland Europe in late November to round off the year.
Cardinals live:
16th September – Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
22nd September – Bristol, Strange Brew
23rd September 2025 – Southampton, Joiners
25th September 2025 – Norwich, Waterfront Studio
26th September 2025 – Leeds, Belgrave
27th September 2025- Manchester, Yes Pink Room
29th September 2025- Brighton, Patterns
30th September 2025 – London, Moth Club
24th November 2025 – Paris, Point Ephemere
26th November 2025 – Berlin, Kantine
27th November 2025 – Düsseldorf, Ratinger Hof
28th November 2025 – Gent, Trefpunt
29th November 2025 – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
30th November 2025 – Amsterdam, Tolhuistuin
Cardinals
Masquerade
Out February 13th 2026
So Young Records
She Makes Me Real
St. Agnes
Masquerade
I Like You
Over At Last
Anhedonia
Barbed Wire
Big Empty Heart
The Burning Of Cork
As I Breathe
Cardinals are:
Euan Manning – guitar and vocals
Oskar Gudinovic – guitar
Aaron Hurley – bass
Finn Manning – accordion
Darragh Manning – drums