Cardinals announce their debut album, Masquerade

“Something the record looks at is peeling back the ‘masquerade’ or the facade we all put up. The curtain is pulled and cynicism takes its place – it’s really easy to be cynical and far harder to be hopeful and genuine. We’ve learnt this through playing and touring but you can’t be a total cynic if you’re making music or films or whatever it is, making art forces you to dig deeper than that protective layer. Stripping it back is painful, you can find things you’re really not proud of but it also lends itself to a sort of acceptance that can’t be attained if you don’t allow yourself that vulnerability. A lot of the themes and ideas in the album come from that place,” frontman Euan Manning says of the new record and their new single.

“The song Masquerade is the broadest exploration of that. It’s definitely one of the more intimate moments on the album. The vulnerability it reveals is uncomfortable and that's where we wanted to be when we were writing the songs on the record,” Manning continues.

"Masquerade" follows last year's one-off single, "Get It", and before that a self-titled debut EP, as well as recent single, "Big Empty Heart", which is the only song Cardinals have previously released that makes the cut for their debut album.

Tracklist:

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