The hype surrounding Cork-based alt-rock quintet Cardinals was already reaching a high-point before Grian Chatten, frontman of world famous Fontaines D.C., described them as one of his favorite up and coming acts on BBC 6 Music. Now, there’s even more excitement and anticipation surrounding their debut LP, Masquerade, due to be released on February 13th. Drawing on a range of influences as varied as Nine Inch Nails to Townes Van Zandt, the band present audiences with an introduction that covers a lot of ground, lyrically and sonically, over a concise period. Singing about religion, violence, personal experiences and more against riffs reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age or Arctic Monkeys, albeit with the inclusion of accordion, Cardinals’ music feels simultaneously nostalgic and prescient.

Northern Transmissions spoke to Cardinals’ lead vocalist and guitarist Euan Manning about the band’s highly anticipated debut LP Masquerade, finding their sound and what emerging acts they’re excited about in 2026.

Northern Transmissions: Congrats on your debut album, Masquerade. You must be so excited for it to be released in a few weeks. You’re still in the in-between period where you and the band have lived with it for a long time, and you’re waiting for people to hear it. How are you feeling about it all?

Euan Manning: Yeah, I feel good. As you said, we’re just enjoying the last few weeks where it’s ours before it becomes public domain. It’s nice, you know, I was talking to someone else the other day, it’s been a really long campaign for an album, I think. So, there’s definitely a lot of anticipation for us just to get it out there and not be done with it, because we’re not done with it, but just have it out there for people to hear and hopefully enjoy.

NT: Tell me about recording the album. I’m always really interested to hear about a band or artist’s experience writing and recording their debut album. It’s such a big moment and achievement in a musician’s career. It’s your first time getting to introduce yourself to listeners and to show them what you’re interested in, what you want to write about and even your influences. How did you find the process of building your sound to a point where you felt confident in it being the version of Cardinals you wanted people to hear?

Euan Manning: Yeah, that’s interesting. There was a fairly long period between finishing the songs for the first EP and then moving on to write the first songs for the album. I like to think of it as a period of growth where we looked at what we thought was good about the EP and what we didn’t like as much.

When you talk about shedding influences, I think we moved away from a more straightforward indie-rock sound into something that’s a bit more janky and a bit more awkward and darker. There are loads of things that contributed to that, probably many of them subconsciously. A realization for me was the importance of allowing your vulnerability to shine through when you write, and using that as a keystone. Then, moving forward with that idea in the back of our heads as we continued to write the album. It was probably a year and a half from when we were in the studio recording it from when we started writing it.

NT: It’s a well-rounded album from the sonical expression and breadth of themes you cover in the lyrics. There’s everything from religion to personal experiences and frustrations with the state of the world. I was curious to hear about the lyrical side of the LP. What were the earliest songs written for the album that kicked off certain messages or themes within the material?

Euan Manning: The last single that just came out, “I Like You”, that’s the one I say was the first one we wrote with the album in mind. There are other ideas and songs that came before that, that are on the album, but that was the first one written with the album properly in mind. It’s that bit janky and darker and explores a space that’s still probably within indie-rock, many would say, but hopefully not in the way that we were doing sort of noise-pop earlier on. That was a big song for us. It was a cathartic moment when we finished it because we felt it was something we could move forward with.

NT: You mention the move towards a jankier and darker sensibility in your instrumentation. The Cardinals have such a distinct sound, especially with the inclusion of the accordion. You’ve said that the first couple of years were defined by finding your sound as a band, and that Masquerade is the most cohesive version of the band. I’m interested to hear about that period. Was it very challenging to come through and how did you you figure it out either internally, or coming from Cork, by looking to the incredible community of musicians in Cork?

Euan Manning: Yeah, there are so many amazing musicians here in Cork, but as a band, we’re pretty insular. In many ways, even though there’s so much music from Cork that we enjoy, we lean more on each other and bounce ideas back and forth to figure these things out. I think you can see that closed-off nature in the writing and in the songs. We’re just that bit more shy and, perhaps, slightly introverted. Some of the bands coming out of Cork now, and that have done previously, are absolutely amazing. The city serves more as a character and an idea to write about. That’s the main thing that we took from it, rather than taking great inspiration from the music scene that’s there at the moment.

NT: After you finished the recording sessions for the album, how did the experience strengthen or change your approach to writing or recording?

Euan Manning: I definitely came away from it changed. Making an EP is obviously great and sometimes necessary and important. The work that goes into it, or at least the work that went into ours, wasn’t even half as much as what we put into the album. We were more or less going with the flow. I think to be really dug in and entrenched and stuck in the world of the album together for so many months, because the songs on the EP were already written when we were approached to put it on together as a thing and release it, so for the debut album, it was like starting from scratch. We were in our rehearsal room a lot and writing a lot. You’re made to be very, very close with each other. That rubs off on everyone, and we all ended up changed. That’s not even going into the amount that we’ve toured together last year and everything else.

We’re more level-headed now because there’s more of a realization of what it takes and the work that needs to be put in and the effect that can have on your body and your head. There’s a maturity. People say that all the time about new music, but I would definitely say that’s true for us; there’s a certain maturity or, at least a realization that it took a lot from us.

NT: Of course. Hearing you speak frankly about the demands of touring, for example, and realizing the impact it can have, it’s been a very busy time for Cardinals. As exciting as it is for you to be on the cusp of releasing your debut LP, do you find yourself a little nervous or anxious about the uncertainty of what’s to come?

Euan Manning: Yeah, absolutely. There’s a certain part of that, but then working on the album together, there’s a great feeling of security that if nothing else happens or nothing comes of it, at least as a group, we’re connected and know when to put ours head down and work hard. When you’re playing in a band or doing any sort of art, you’re going to face lots of rejection, letdowns and pain and playing to empty shows where you’re halfway across the world, and you’re like, ‘What am I doing?’ There’s certainly a little bit of pressure as to what’s going to happen next. But there’s a great sense of security in the idea that if we’ve made it this far and that it’s going to be okay.

NT: I know you have an appreciation for a considered structure to an album’s Side A and Side B. What two songs from Masquerade do you feel feed into each other, or are intrinsically connected in your mind?

Euan Manning: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. For me, “St. Agnes” and “Big Empty Heart” are in the same world but also, but also, they flip the colours of each of those songs. There’s a cheerfulness and even a satirical, slightly funny nature to the lyrics of “St. Agnes”. They’re in the same world and sort of touch off each other.

NT: Finally, there’s been a lot of buzz around Cardinals. I’m curious to hear what emerging artists you’re listening to that people should check out.

Euan Manning: I’ll start off with one that people probably know already, or are starting to get to know quite well, which is Pebbledash. We toured with them quite a bit. They’re supremely talented. Someone else who I hope is gearing up to release some music soon is a guy called Echo Northstar. He’s a solo artist. We’ve played with him once before and know him through people in Cork. He’s an amazing songwriter and a definite talent. When he starts putting some music out, it’s going to be big.

Pre-order Masquerade by Cardinals  HERE