Ye Vagabonds release fourth album

Ye Vagabonds release fourth album

Ye Vagabonds will be playing a homecoming concert in Carlow on 15 March Photo: Rich Gilligan

CARLOW’s Ye Vagabonds have just released their fourth album, titled All Tied Togetheron Rough Trade’s River Lea label.

The multi-award-winning Mac Gloinn brothers from Palatine take listeners on a journey through the places of their past. “All these songs have addresses,” says co-frontman Diarmuid Mac Gloinn. “They’re about specific locations and specific people.” 

 The album’s opener On Sitric Road details their time living in Stoneybatter in Dublin, with Brian singing over swelling synths: I remember that first evening/Singing John Prine ̓til dawn/Round the iron stove on Sitric Road/With my big wool coat on.

The brothers, Diarmuid and Brían, first started performing on the streets together as buskers in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crash before they created music nights in Carlow and, later, Dublin, which led to the creation of the collective today.

All Tied Together was recorded mainly in a house in Galway with celebrated producer Phil Weinrobe flying over from Brooklyn to be at the helm, while multi-instrumentalist Shazad Ismaily also travelled from the United States to contribute.

In preparation for the album, the Mac Gloinns created a Dublin-based songwriters meet-up and took part in online workshops, dedicating their lives to studying the craft of songwriting.

“I treated it like my nine to five,” says Diarmuid. “I was going to a desk in our rehearsal space five days a week. For months. The days I wasn’t working, I was reading about the process of both songwriting and short stories.” 

 The brothers are currently on a headline tour of the USA, which began in Brooklyn, New York and will conclude on 16 February in Seattle, Washington.

The pair will then return home to Ireland to play a number of shows across the country before coming home to Carlow on 15 March, where they will play the GBS Theatre in Visual.

Their final gig in Ireland will be at Dolan’s in Limerick on 28 March before they embark on a European tour.

Tickets for all the shows can be found on the group’s website yevagabonds.com.

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