The Fontaines D.C. approved next big Irish thing are ready with their debut album.

Well, Cliffords might have a thing or two to say about next big thing, and CMAT probably isn’t relinquishing the spotlight any time soon, but you get the idea. This is a serious musical outfit. You only have to have listened to a few of their singles to know there is a broad range of tastes and styles at work here. While the album is a coherent whole, there are pieces that don’t obviously fit together straight away.

Chief among the things that set them apart is within their five piece line-up they possess an accordion player, Finn Manning. Whilst you do find the odd one in a rock line-up, They Might Be Giants, Gogol Bordello (also with a new album out today) and Arcade Fire quickly spring to mind, it is hardly the ubiquity of 2025’s favourite instrument the saxophone. It gives them a very different USP to many of their contemporaries. Equally, this is serious music, not Weird Al Yankovic doing one of his many polka cover albums.

This is a strong collection of tracks, half having already been released as singles. We start off with a couple of new ones. ‘She Makes Me Real’ is a slower starter that turns into a beautiful fuzzy guitar stomp. That bleeds into the waltz like ‘St. Agnes.’ Euan Manning on guitar and vocals has a touch of the Grian Chattens or Steven Malkmus about him, a slightly more languid, laid back vocalist, yet carries a real emotional weight when needed. Lead single ‘Masquerade’ isn’t quite like anything you have heard recently, yet feels instantly classic and homely.

‘I Like You’ is a simpler, slower tune that builds into a couple of crescendos. ‘Barbed Wire’ is a real highlight, a slightly funkier number designed to get you tapping along with a foot or a finger.

A touch of psychedelia creeps in on ‘The Burning of Cork.’ The band are from Cork and this track recalls a key event from the cities history. During the height of The Irish War Of Independence in 1920 British forces burned down more than 40 businesses and 300 residential properties in retaliation for an IRA ambush.

End track ‘As I Breathe’ fittingly carries a couple of extra minutes of running time. The accordion matching an in and out pattern that mimics breathing.

This is an impressive debut that really stands out from the main pack of guitar bands right now. They can do slower, introspective, meditative numbers that feel like they have a real weight to them.

Essential Tracks: ‘Masquerade,’ ‘Barbed Wire’ and ‘The Burning Of Cork.’

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