A new generation of young Irish indie bands is emerging from Cork City, and Cardinals are at the forefront, winning over audiences at home and abroad with their dynamic brand of indie rock.
After forming in the seaside town of Kinsale shortly after the pandemic, alternative five-piece Cardinals quickly established a reputation as one of Ireland’s most exciting young bands, becoming a favourite of UK music magazines such as So Young and counting Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten as an early supporter.
Last month, they released their debut album Masquerade, and now they’re stopping off in their hometown before embarking on a tour across Ireland, the UK, Europe, and North America.
This particular moment in Cork music history – a beloved young band releasing their debut album – coincides with another: the reopening of the iconic Savoy Theatre venue after ten years.
The crowd at the sold-out gig appears to be a mix of passionate Cardinals fans and casual music fans curious to see the new version of the Savoy, but the show the band put on is so magnetic that it’s accessible to everyone. They open with ‘Twist and Turn’, the first track on their 2024 self-titled EP.
One of Cardinals’ most well-known songs ‘She Makes Me Real’ is played early in the night – and feels like the equivalent of the overture for a musical or opera. It gives a sense of what is to come over the next hour: the heartfelt emotion and pain conveyed in frontman Euan Manning’s vocals, the simple intensity of the guitar parts, the grounding bassline, the thrashing drums you feel in your chest, and the variety of cascading accordion melodies.
Cardinals have always had something that sets them apart from the crowded field of Irish indie rock – and it’s front and centre on every song on Masquerade and live too. Finn Manning’s accordion isn’t a novelty or a folk flourish – it’s the engine of the band’s sound, functioning more like a lead guitar than anything traditional, shapeshifting from jaunty and melodic on ‘St Agnes’ to dark and menacing on ‘Anhedonia’.
Old tracks ‘Unreal’ and ‘Roseland’ get the loudest reactions, a reminder of how deep the Cork crowd’s connection with this band runs.
By playing ‘Unreal’, as well as their debut single ‘Amsterdam’ later in the night, Cardinals also demonstrate how much they’ve developed their sound and songwriting on their debut album.
The straightforward indie pop of ‘Unreal’ stands out in the set, contrasted by the more complex, ambitious alternative sound, marked by searing guitar riffs, that the band have created on Masquerade.
The passionate, emotional ballad ‘I Like You’ garners one of the loudest sing-alongs of the night, and it’s followed by a welcome burst of energy in the form of ‘Anhedonia’, during which an audience member crowd-surfs, the first of several such instances throughout the night.
But for as much as the band are giving it their all and the crowd is loving it, the Savoy is still experiencing teething problems, as is to be expected from any new venue. The sound quality and mixing aren’t what I’d hoped for; it’s difficult to make out the lyrics, and the accordion is barely audible on some songs. The venue’s visuals, however, fit the band perfectly. The plush curtain at the back of the stage provides a suitable backdrop, enhancing the music’s theatricality and adding to the feeling that this is a unique, one-night-only live performance.
Cardinals seem to be right at home in theatres; they recently released a live video of Masquerade filmed at another iconic Cork theatre, the Everyman.
Taking a cue from British indie folk/rock band Westside Cowboy, who have dubbed themselves “Britiainicana” to describe how their music filters American influences through a distinctly British lens, perhaps Cardinals could be considered “Irelandicana”.
The indie rock sound they’ve developed is what you’d imagine it might sound like if a band composed of five relatives and childhood friends from a small town on the outskirts of Cork City took their 90s American grunge influences and Ireland’s history of alternative music, and set out to create their own spin on contemporary rock.
But at the same time, for as much critical writing as there’s been about Cardinals, especially in the past few months, I haven’t seen anyone mention the strain of 2000s emo present in their sound. I hear the alternative rock of bands such as My Chemical Romance all over this set, in the driving rhythm of songs such as ‘Barbed Wire’, but most notably in Euan’s impassioned, emotional vocal performance. The song’s themes, too, match those of emo music. The set is sequenced almost the same as the album, so Masquerade’s two distinct themes of personal pain (on the A-side, songs like “I Like You” and “St Agnes”) and local and global acts of violence (on the B-side, “Anhedonia” and “The Burning of Cork” respectively) show up clearly here too.
Cardinals are fantastic live performers, and, except for a lull in the set with ‘Amsterdam’ (evidently a deep cut played just for the Cork crowd), this is a tight live set.
The time they’ve put in honing their craft in the past year, touring Europe and North America and playing big support sets with bands such as The Pogues and Fontaines D.C., has paid off.
They’re definitely cut from the Fontaines D.C. cloth, not only in their determination to let the music speak for itself rather than chatting with the audience, but in their undeniable stage presence. They make this 600-capacity theatre feel much bigger, as their overwhelming wall of sound washes over us all, with the accordion rising above.
The people of Cork City have been saying it for a few years, and now it seems like the rest of the world has caught up: Cardinals have arrived.
