Cardinals

Championed by Grian Chatten, frontman of Fontaines D.C. as ‘one of my favourite new bands’ – a reference that carries serious weight worldwide – Cardinals began as a joke between three sixteen-year-olds: brothers Euan and Finn Mannings and their cousin Dara in a sleepy fishing village near Cork, Ireland’s second city. They started out making music that suited their age: simple, spiky post-punk. Soon, school friends Aaron and Oskar joined the fold, along with a widening range of influences: shoegaze, Irish folk, gothic metal, ragged Britpop and hip-hop. The result is melancholic indie rock with a warm heart. Distinctive, and characteristically Irish, is the central role of the accordion. Their debut Masquerade (2026) confirms Cardinals’ status as the ‘next great guitar band from Ireland’ (Rolling Stone).