Following their debut single, “Roseland”, on So Young Records, and its recently released follow-up “Unreal”, the Irish indie-rock group Cardinals return today to share the announcement of their much-anticipated debut self-titled EP “Cardinals” on June 7th, 2024.
With this news comes more new music, this time in the form of the brooding, widescreen “If I Could Make You Care” and its accompanying video. Watch the video below.
Speaking on the track, front man Euan Manning had the following to say about its themes:
“There’s not much to say about the lyrics of the song past its title which was stolen from Frank Sinatra’s ‘I Could Make You Care’. It was co-written between myself and Oskar and we worked away at it quietly until it became something special between us. The arrangement with the band brought the drama and scale, it grew into something bigger than we expected. It was a great relief to write the song, like we had come to the end of some part of our lives”.
More on the EP itself: “It’s a collection of songs that were written when we were living and playing in Cork City. It’s pop music at its core, personal, youthful, and, if you can see past the chaos and noise it’s extremely warm. There’s a narrative if you’ve got the heart to look for it. It’s our first EP and we’re looking forward to it being out there for everyone to hear”.
The EP will be released on limited edition 12″ Cream vinyl.
In addition, there will be a Rough Trade exclusive edition which will include both the vinyl and a lyric booklet.
The six songs of the “Cardinals” EP were recorded with Richie Kennedy (U2, Interpol).
Pre-order the debut EP here.
Tracklist:
1. Twist and Turn
2. Unreal
3. Roseland
4. Amphetamines
5. Nineteen
6. If I Could Make You Care
Following a filmed performance for Other Voices in their homeland, and the enviable support of Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten, who called them “one of my favourite new bands” during an interview with BBC Radio 1, the band will perform at this year’s The Great Escape alongside a first headline tour of the UK & Ireland in May.
UK Tour Dates 2024:
May 9th Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
May 11th Yes (Basement), Manchester
May 12th McChullis, Glasgow
May 14th The Windmill, London
May 15th The Joiners, Southampton
May 16th The Great Escape, Brighton
May 24th Róisín Dubh, Galway
May 25th Kasbah Social Club, Limerick
May 26th Cyprus Avenue, Cork
Starting as a light-hearted idea between two sixteen-year-olds in a sleepy fishing town on the southern coast of 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 front man 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 an Irish line changing the sound of alternative music.
Perpetually keeping outside of their comfort zone, their sound has echoes of Big Music, of the effervescence of 80s indie, conjuring up an eclectic, gothic amalgam of shoegaze, Irish trad folk and alternative music for an ambitious sound that has already carved them out as a marked side-step to the recent bands who’ve broken through around them.
Line-up:
Euan Manning – Guitar and vocals
Kieran Hurley – Guitar
Oskar Gudinovic – Guitar
Aaron Hurley – Bass
Finn Manning – Accordion
Darragh Manning – Drums
