Cork six piece, Cardinals, have become one of the most buzzed about acts on the scene with Fontaines D.C.‘s Grian Chatten calling them “one of my favourite new bands” on BBC Radio 1. Brooding with the fizz of 80s indie, the band conjure up a gothic alchemy of shoegaze, Irish trad folk and alt music for an ambitious genre-busting soundscape. Cardinals have just shared their debut single for So Young Records- ‘Roseland’
‘Roseland‘ is the first material since a self-released, ‘Amsterdam’ and its B-side ‘The Brow’ which were uploaded to Bandcamp earlier this year. Fervent word of mouth spread across Ireland around these and their enigmatic early live shows. ‘Roseland’ is their first material recorded with Richie Kennedy (U2, Interpol) with further music to follow in 2024.
Opening with a sleezy, bluesy bassline and punchy percussion reminiscent of a 3 a.m. pub lock-in, the lush vocals of ‘Roseland’ waltz with a timeless grace as the ornamented accordion flitters through the bass line- soaring into an almighty wall of sound, building to a thrilling final third- taking all the best ingredients of balladry, melancholic romance, religious imagery, reverb, ornamented multi-layered riffs and soaring vocals, juxtaposing strength with vulnerability in this epic indie track. Listen here:
Vocalist and guitarist ,Euan Manning, had the following to say about the single: “Roseland is the name of a ballroom in NYC, I took it from a Portishead poster I had hanging on my wall growing up. I think I was trying to write a folk song about Cork city and a story that took place there. It touches on some new aspects of our music, so it felt right to have it as our next release.”
Starting as a light-hearted idea between two sixteen-year-olds in a sleepy fishing town in Ireland, a whole joke-taken-to-heart later and their difference is marked by an early immersion in Cork’s live music scene.
“We were into what we were hearing but knew we could never be part of it, we wanted to juxtapose ourselves,” says frontman Euan Manning, “not for the sake of doing something different but because we have pop-leaning influences and didn’t want to shy away from that.” Now barely twenty, the six-piece are next in line to change the sound of Irish alternative music, whilst being recognised by established artists like Grian Chatten and Whipping Boy, who recently shared their latest track on their socials.
Following a filmed performance for Other Voices in their homeland, the band return to London to play The Great Escape’s First Fifty showcase on November 15th at The Victoria, with Picture Parlour and Trout.
Cardinals are:
Euan Manning – guitar and vocals
Kieran Hurley – guitar
Oskar Gudinovic – guitar
Aaron Hurley – bass
Finn Manning – accordion
Darragh Manning – drums
PHOTO CREDIT: EMILYN CARDONA
