Cardinals
about the artist
Tracksuited, denim and leather clad and hidden behind wrap-around sunglasses, the Cork five-piece, Cardinals, look like they've just stepped out of Warhol's factory in Midtown Manhattan rather than the picturesque village of Kinsale. More than just looking cool, there is a coolness about them generally: a balance. Nothing is ever exhausted or in excess, from their gliding melodies to their gentle, composed lyricism, to live in a Cardinals song is to be surrounded by a grainy, monochromatic landscape that holds both a gritty rock and roll nostalgia and the rolling hills of Ireland's traditional musical past.
What began as bedroom…
MoreTracksuited, denim and leather clad and hidden behind wrap-around sunglasses, the Cork five-piece, Cardinals, look like they've just stepped out of Warhol's factory in Midtown Manhattan rather than the picturesque village of Kinsale. More than just looking cool, there is a coolness about them generally: a balance. Nothing is ever exhausted or in excess, from their gliding melodies to their gentle, composed lyricism, to live in a Cardinals song is to be surrounded by a grainy, monochromatic landscape that holds both a gritty rock and roll nostalgia and the rolling hills of Ireland's traditional musical past.
What began as bedroom demos made by two daydreaming sixteen-year-olds — frontman Euan Manning and guitarist Oskar Gudinovic — resulted in friend Aaron Hurley borrowing a bass and learning it by way of Joy Division's 'She's Lost Control' which he hammered home repeatedly for three months. By the end of 2022, Euan's jazz-drumming cousin Darragh Manning, and accordion-wielding brother Finn completed the lineup. Blending Ireland's musical beating heart with a swell of contemporary frisson, Cardinals are tied to making music they genuinely enjoy whilst pushing themselves sonically outside of their comfort zone. "We wanted to juxtapose ourselves," says Euan, "we have pop-leaning influences and didn't want to shy away from that." The result is an eclectic gothic amalgam of shoegaze, Irish trad folk, and rock which incorporates 60s Wall of Sound elements for a punk-inflected noise that "wants to be warm pop."
After signing to So Young Records, Cardinals have been welcomed into the UK music scene with loving arms, leading the next 'Green Wave' of exciting young bands from Ireland. Their self-titled EP was recorded by Richie Kennedy (U2, The Murder Capital, Interpol) at Sonic Studios in Dublin, and released in early 2024 to critical acclaim. Its pogues-leaning, shanty-esque verses swoon into room-filling chorus,' and often cloak dark and brooding tales of love in gentle first-person conversational narratives. Barely scraping past 20, there's a maturity and confidence to Euan Mannings lyrics: what other 20 year old could confidently sigh the words "I love you" mid-song and not make it sound cliche? These are the lyrics of someone well-studied but unpretentious, who is open and vulnerable to the world and its injury. He treats the music with warmth and kindness but also has the ability to cut through it with a knife with lines like: If love was there, it was thin in the air/It only came here to die, ('Roseland') that echo Whipping Boy's brutal anti-ballad 'We Don't Need Nobody Else.'
As well as capturing the attention of Fontaines DC.'s Grian Chatten, who told BBC Radio One they were his favourite new band, they're set to tour with breezy, indie New York outfit, Been Stellar, have opened up for rock giants, Kings Of Leon, and can be found studding the line ups of Pitchfork London, All Together Now and Electric Picnic. With support for singles 'Unreal' and 'Nineteen' from 6Music's Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Emily Pilbeam, plus an online feature from RTE, (Ireland's biggest broadcaster) it's no surprise that Rolling Stone UK heralded Cardinals as 'the next great guitar band to emerge from Ireland.'
Much of Cardinals' musical power lies in their ability to leave space in their songs, which in contrast give the songs depth- often filled with Euan's sung contemplations, Darragh's hollowed out snare, or the drone of Finn's accordion. There is a sensitivity and self-assuredness that you feel when you listen to Cardinals that makes you believe that whatever incarnation they are in now will not be their last, and that they will continue to make music forever. Perhaps it's because they feel real and connected- both to art, to one another, and to Ireland. More than this, their ability to call that which is beautiful- beautiful- make us feel less lonely. They seem to feel the same: 'I've heard music and seen films and somehow felt less alone,' says Euan, 'if we can do that for someone else, then that's cool in my books.'
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SHORT BIO
Tracksuited, denim and leather clad and hidden behind wrap-around sunglasses, the Cork five-piece, Cardinals, look like they've just stepped out of Warhol's factory in Midtown Manhattan rather than the picturesque village of Kinsale, and yet to live in a Cardinals song is to be surrounded by a grainy, monochromatic landscape that holds both a gritty rock and roll nostalgia and the rolling hills of Ireland's traditional musical past. Their pogues-leaning, shanty-esque verses swoon into room-filling chorus,' and often cloak dark and brooding tales of love in gentle first-person conversational narratives. Their critically acclaimed debut EP Cardinals, is an eclectic gothic amalgam of shoegaze, pop, Irish trad folk, and rock which incorporates 60s Wall of Sound and poetry inflected punk.