Exclusive video premiere of ‘Unreal’ by Cardinals, more new music coming soon via So Young Records.

Euan Manning (guitar, vocals), Kieran Hurley (guitar), Oskar Gudinovic (guitar), Aaron Hurley (bass), Finn Manning (accordion), Darragh Manning (drums) — started as a joke 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 wanted to juxtapose ourselves,” says frontman Euan Manning. “We have pop-leaning influences and didn’t want to shy away from that.”

Blending Ireland’s musical beating heart with a swell of contemporary frisson, the six-piece are tied to making music they enjoy whilst being perpetually kept outside of their comfort zone. The result is an eclectic gothic amalgam of shoegaze, Irish trad folk, and rock which incorporates 60s Wall of Sound elements for a punk-inflected noise that ‘wants to be warm pop.’ Underpinning this trademark friction is a soft narrative arc which chases a stark vulnerability. “I’ve heard music and seen films and somehow felt less alone,” Manning continues. “If we can do that for someone else, then that’s cool in my books.”

Following the recent release of their debut single on So Young Records (‘Roseland’), Cardinals returns today with a new cut entitled ‘Unreal.’ This is another output from their recording sessions with Richie Kennedy (U2, Interpol).

On the track, Manning wrote: “It was written in the back of a ford transit van that I was living in at the time. ‘Unreal’ reminds me of sunny days spent on the beaches at home. I remember learning a beach boys song, taking one of the chords from it, and building the whole song around that.”

‘Unreal’ is out now on all DSPs. Stay tuned for more new music from Cardinals, coming soon via So Young Records, and catch the band at this year’s SXSW (details TBA).

Headline photo: Emilyn Cardona

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