Cardinals have shared a new single called ‘I Like You’ – you can listen to it below.
The song is the latest preview of the Irish indie band and NME Cover stars‘ debut album, ‘Masquerade’, which is released on February 13 via So Young (pre-order/pre-save here).
Arriving today (Monday January 19), ‘I Like You’ is a romantic, accordion-led track that has already become a fan favourite at Cardinals’ recent live shows.
“This is the first song we wrote with the album in mind,” explained frontman Euan Manning. “After a very long period of not working on anything, we started and finished this some bright morning last February in our practice studio.”
He went on to say that ‘I Like You’ “felt cathartic, a completely grounding moment after feeling slightly lost for months”.
“The first lyric [‘Don’t change your hair for me, if you still care for me‘] is stripped/paraphrased from the tune ‘My Funny Valentine’,” Manning continued. “I don’t think it was written by Chet Baker, but that’s the version we know.”
He was referring to Baker’s version of the classic jazz standard, which has also been covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Costello and Miles Davis.
Check out the video for Cardinals’ ‘I Like You’ here:
The song follows on from the group’s previous singles ‘Big Empty Heart’, ‘The Burning Of Cork’, ‘Barbed Wire’ and the ‘Masquerade’ title track.
Last year, Cardinals appeared on the soundtrack for Netflix’s House Of Guinness, from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. They also opened for Fontaines D.C. at their massive gig in London’s Finsbury Park over the summer.
Cardinals are set to embark on a UK and Ireland headline tour in March. Find any remaining tickets here, and see the full schedule below.
Cardinals’ 2026 UK and Ireland tour dates are:
MARCH:
05 – Ulster Sports Club, Belfast
06 – Live At St. Luke’s, Cork
07 – The Workman’s Club, Dublin
10 – Exchange, Bristol
11 – The Garage, London
13 – YES (Pink Room), Manchester
14 – The Grove, Newcastle
15 – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Speaking to NME for last week’s edition of The Cover, Cardinals reflected on being part of the current wave of sucessful Irish rock bands – including Fontaines D.C., Sprints, The Murder Capital, NewDad and Gurriers.
“There’s always been good Irish music,” Manning said. “It’s had a commercial surge now, which is great. People are definitely benefiting, but I don’t like to see us lumped in. Aside from the fact that we’re Irish, I don’t see we have much in common musically with a lot of our contemporaries.
“We’ve always been pretty insular as a band. We want to do our own thing, which in a way is not nice, because I think there’s value in community. It would be nice to be really friendly with all these Irish bands, always hanging out, but I don’t think it’s in our nature.”
He also discussed his past comments about the band planning to make a “classic” album with their forthcoming debut.
“Like, what is a classic album?” Manning told NME. “Classic albums are different for different people.
“I don’t know whether it’s a classic or not – it’s not up to me. But I’m really proud of us. I’m really proud of the record. Personally, in my heart, it’s a classic. It’ll always be there for me, whether I’m in love with it or if I’m hating it.”
Cardinals created an NME playlist to accompany their Cover interview, too. They tied together their selected tracks under the theme of ‘Cigarette smoke in a Brooklyn dive bar, 1984’.