Awash with passionate anguish and swaggering post-punk indie and gnarly energy, a strikingly impressive debut by the Cork five-piece, coloured by seething, stormy vocals and guitars, and flavoured by a distinctively rich accordion sound. The current favourite Irish band of Fontaine D.C.’s Grian Chatten, Cardinals are thought to be heading for great things, and this release is brimming with that potential, with a fire and feeling from frontman Euen Manning and and co, including brother Finn on accordion, from full-throated sound and heartbreak opener She Makes Me Real (“It hurts beyond belief”), the skipping, agile, waltz-time and richly accordion-filled St Agnes, the slower, smouldering title track which includes a line harking back to the opener, to the tender I Like You.
There’s a jagged, controlled chaos to their songs, a drunken rage, an unpredictability, such as with the undulating speeds and moods of Over At Last, which past half way slows to a smoky menacing of stripped back thrumming bass before building up again. This isn’t an album that front loads the best songs, but feels like a properly balanced, two-sided album, with strength just as compelling in the second five of the 10 numbers. Anhedonia is filled with violent images and recollections and a spinning energy. Among the best is the catchy indie-pop of Barbed Fire, a thumping catchy twang of a tour of their hometown of Cork (“And I can hardly breathe / Alcohol and ecstasy/ And aperol and THC/ From city hall / To George's Quay”). It is followed by the dark, almost goth-folk horror love story of Big Empty Heart (“As my legs are blown to bits and I always feel shit, well with you I kind of feel OK”). And the quality never wains. The fierce, menace of that British colonisation history referencing number The Burning of Cork is undeniable, before a contrasting final track, As I Breathe, a tender, moving valediction to a close family friend departed. A young band really on form and fire, with a dynamic range, power and passion that makes them dangerously real contenders for huge success. Out on So Young Records.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new songs and albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar X, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: