Irish band Cardinals blends fact and fiction on ‘Masquerade’

The greatest, most enduring stories feel alive. Think of the ones that get told over and over, like The Odyssey, Grimms’ Fairy Tales or even a notorious family legend passed down through generations.

With stories like these, the details might change along the way. They may not be entirely accurate retellings. What matters is capturing the essence. And as you’ll hear in today’s interview, that’s how the Irish band Cardinals approaches songwriting.

Coming up, Cardinals frontman Euan Manning talks about making music that feels real, and about blending fact and fiction on the band’s new album, Masquerade, whether drawing from personal experience or the history of the band’s hometown of Cork.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe‘s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.