The Cardinals - 'All Talk / All Messed Up' (Tri Tone) Released 03/07/06

Not to be confused with Ryan Adams' backing band, Manchester lads The Cardinals seem to have bigger things on the agenda. This double A side comes with a (albeit well-worn) stadium rock tag around it's neck, left at the station, waiting to be picked up by some adoring fans to make them as huge as they sound like they want to be. All Talk grabs a quick lesson in jerky Indie from miserabilists Joy Division before cheering up and welling into a U2 meets Echo and the Bunnymen stadium rouser. In a similar fashion, All messed up starts like Mculloch and Co , before building into a Editors track with Johnny Marr playing guitar. No mean feat at all. There isn't enough here to compete with the big boys yet, but The Cardinals sound like they at least have the swagger to be as big as they are trying to sound.