Young Irish indie rockers Cardinals are among our favorite new bands of 2025, and their full-length debut Masquerade is set to arrive early in 2026. We’ve already posted a handful of songs that’ll appear on that LP: the title track, “Big Empty Heart,” “The Burning Of Cork.” Today, they’re hitting us with a new one called “Barbed Wire.”
“Barbed Wire” highlights Cardinals’ use of accordion, which might be the one element that truly sets the band apart. For the most part, “Barbed Wire” is a cool old-school indie rock song, bringing some of that Pixies-style catchy spikiness. (I just realized that I used the term “spikiness” to describe a song called “Barbed Wire,” which is kind of embarrassing. If you can think of a better descriptor, fire away.) But the accordion lends it a nicely drunken goth-folk effect. These guys might end up doing more for the accordion than anyone since Steve Urkel, or maybe Madvillain.
Like a lot of Cardinals songs, “Barbed Wire” deals with the history of Cork, Cardinals’ hometown. In a press release, frontman Euan Manning says, “It’s very much inspired by the history of our city and the Gaol house that stood on the south gate bridge many years ago. Lyrically, I had hoped to evoke images of silhouetted city walls and security fences. Sometimes aesthetics can carry a song from its inception to its completion. Kevin Barry’s novel City Of Bohane also served as inspiration for a gothic re-imagining of Cork.” Check out the Xander Lewis-directed “Barbed Wire” video below.
Masquerade is out 2/13 on So Young.
