Cardinals: Masquerade (CD)

Cork's acclaimed Cardinals announce their much-anticipated debut album Masquerade. Set to land February 13th on tastemaker label So Young Records, the ten song album was recorded with producer Shrink at RAK Studios, London across the summer.

It's a record that is at once grand and intimate, awash with romance and flickers of holy imagery, and most of all, it's an undeniable fulfilment of the innate promise the band have shown since their earliest beginnings.

These are emotionally expansive songs, some simmering with an undercurrent of violence, cynicism or fervent discontent ('Anhedonia', 'The Burning Of Cork', 'Barbed Wire') and others gleaming with a bright-eyed vulnerability. A vivid first half contrasts a darker second and crafts a record with a clear A-side and B-side.

A nod to the band’s collective love of vinyl, that tonal shift takes its cue from a variety of expected and unexpected influences - from the brittle honesty of folk to the theatrical melodrama of goth-rock.

1. She Makes Me Real
2. St. Agnes
3. Masquerade
4. I Like You
5. Over At Last
6. Anhedonia
7. Barbed Wire
8. Big Empty Heart
9. The Burning of Cork
10. As I Breathe