Ireland’s Cardinals return today with “Unreal”, their much-anticipated follow-up to last year’s debut single proper, “Roseland”, a song saw them heralded across press for the maturity and fully-formed nature of their sound. The 7″ vinyl, released on tastemaker label So Young, went on to hurriedly sell out within only two hours of its announce.
“Unreal” acts as a direct counterpart to the broodiness of “Roseland”, displaying a fervent, youthful energy and clear pop sensibility at play within the group. Opening with a blast of feedback and followed with real melodic ambition at its heart, these three minutes surely soar.
Front man Euan Manning had the following to say about the single:
“Unreal was written in the back of a Ford Transit van that I happened to be living in at the time. It reminds me of warm days spent on the beaches at home back in Cork. I remember learning a Beach Boys song, taking one of the chords from it, and building a whole new song, this one, around it.”
“Unreal”, and “Roseland” before it, follow a self-release, “Amsterdam” and its B-side “The Brow”, uploaded early last year to Bandcamp. Fervent word of mouth spread across Ireland around these tentative releases and the enigmatic early live shows from the six-piece.
Following a filmed performance for Other Voices in their homeland, and the enviable support of Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten, who called them “one of my favourite new bands” during an interview with BBC Radio 1, the band performed for The Great Escape’s First Fifty at the tail end of last year and will now perform at the main festival in May, with their first US performances confirmed to take place before then at SXSW next month.
Photo credit – Emilyn Cardona