Today Cork five- piece Cardinals announce their hotly 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 religious imagery. The album is an undeniable fulfilment of the innate promise the band have shown since their earliest days. The band conjure up a gothic alchemy of shoegaze, Irish trad folk and alt music for a smoky swirling, genre-busting soundscape seeing them support the likes of Fontaines D.C. in London and The Pogues in Boston, gathering more and more switched on # fans along the way.
To celebrate the announcement and give us a glimpse of things to come, the band have shared 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:
“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.”
“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.”
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 band are at the vanguard of the Irish indie scene and with a ‘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.
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. See live dates below:
Cardinals live:
SEMPTEMBER
16th – Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
22nd – Bristol, Strange Brew
23rd – Southampton, Joiners
25th – Norwich, Waterfront Studio
26th – Leeds, Belgrave
27th – Manchester, Yes Pink Room
29th – Brighton, Patterns
30th – London, Moth Club
NOVEMBER
24th – Paris, Point Ephemere
26th – Berlin, Kantine
27th – Düsseldorf, Ratinger Hof
28th – Gent, Trefpunt
29th – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
30th – Amsterdam, Tolhuistuin
PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE GULLICK
