Cork’s Cardinals release the final single from their debut album Masquerade set for release om 13th February via So Young Records. ‘I Like You’ is a romantic, accordion-led track that has already become a live favourite in their recent sets. Frontman Euan Manning had to say the following about their latest release:
“This is the first song we wrote with the album in mind. After a very long period of not working on anything we started and finished this some bright morning last February in our practice studio. It felt cathartic, a completely grounding moment after feeling slightly lost for months.
The first lyric is stripped/paraphrased from the tune ‘My Funny Valentine’. I don’t think it was written by Chet Baker but that’s the version we know.”
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. After 2025 live performances including Fontaines D.C.’s massive Finsbury Park all-dayer, supporting Wunderhorse twice in Dublin and a support The Pogues in Boston, the band co-headlined the So Young tour with Mên An Tol, supported NewDad on their UK dates and finished the year with a further headline tour of their own. Following the album’s release, they will hit the road again with a full set of UK & Irish headline dates in support of Masquerade in March. The band will also return to the US in May to perform at Salt Lake City’s Kilby Block Party.
Cardinals Live Dates
March
5 – Belfast, Ulster Sports Club
6 – Cork, St Luke’s
7 – Dublin, The Workman’s Club
10 – Bristol, The Exchange
11 – London, The Garage
13 – Manchester, Yes (Pink Room)
14 – Newcastle, The Grove
15 – Glasgow, King Tut’s
May
15 – 17 – Salt Lake City, Kilby Block Party, Utah
For more information on Cardinals please check their facebook and instagram.
