Cardinals Announce Debut Album Masquerade: Hear The Title Track

Since last fall, we’ve been following the exploits of the Irish indie rock band Cardinals. Today, the Cork-based combo is taking a big step: They’ve announced their debut album and shared its title track.

Masquerade is set for release in February. It includes the previously released single “Big Empty Heart” as well as “Masquerade,” out today with a video by Greg Purcell. I hear echoes of everything from R.E.M. to the Decemberists to Pinegrove in its accordion-infused alt-rock attack. Here’s what frontman Euan Manning has to say about it:

Something the record looks at is peeling back the “masquerade” or the facade we all put up. The curtain is pulled and cynicism takes its place – it’s really easy to be cynical and far harder to be hopeful and genuine. We’ve learnt this through playing and touring but you can’t be a total cynic if you’re making music or films or whatever it is, making art forces you to dig deeper than that protective layer. Stripping it back is painful, you can find things you’re really not proud of but it also lends itself to a sort of acceptance that can’t be attained if you don’t allow yourself that vulnerability. A lot of the themes and ideas in the album come from that place.

The song Masquerade is the broadest exploration of that. It’s definitely one of the more intimate moments on the album. The vulnerability it reveals is uncomfortable and that’s where we wanted to be when we were writing the songs on the record.

Watch below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “She Makes Me Real”
02 “St. Agnes”
03 “Masquerade”
04 “I Like You”
05 “Over At Last”
06 “Anhedonia”
07 “Barbed Wire”
08 “Big Empty Heart”
09 “The Burning Of Cork”
10 “As I Breathe”

Masquerade is out 2/13 via So Young. Pre-order it here.