Ye Vagabonds – ‘All Tied Together’ album review: A dedication to memory
Brothers Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn, the pair behind the Irish folk band Ye Vagabonds, bare their souls on their fourth album, All Tied Together.
The Skinny: Diarmuid and Brían first began making music grounded with inspiration from their ancestors’ music, mixed with their folk-based approach, to build their original songbook over time. This continues with an elevated flair on All Tied Together, where the brothers’ harmonies flow together seamlessly, echoes of each other that reverberate among the soft chords.
On the nostalgic and mournful song ‘The Flood’, their vocals chase after one another as their instrumentals, rooted in traditional Irish melodies, are brought to life in their modernised perspective, forming a beautiful blend that sounds genuinely timeless.
Each story told on All Tied Together is deeply meditative, with an intimacy heard in each that feels all-consuming, beckoning one’s own memories of home, past lives, and loved ones come and gone. “You put words to the song / I’ll keep singing / After you’re gone,” they promise on ‘I’ll Keep Singing’, with a quiet hum. In their voices, recollections become bittersweet, sung with profound sadness, surely, but also hope.
“Some days will break the glass / Sometimes you have to laugh / Or pack it up and sell it for a song,” they sing on ‘Young Again’, conjuring a spirited optimism in the solace of their loved ones. Diarmuid and Brían’s storytelling is vivid and compelling, and coupled with a varied instrumentation, including but not limited to the fiddle, the cello and synthesisers, they paint fascinating portraits of the worlds in which they inhabit.
Home is a definitive theme across the album, and with this comes the acts of remembering and preservation. These songs maintain the seemingly small, but impactful, moments in the brothers’ shared consciousness: a baby being born, a man’s hollowed eyes, the warmth of a wool coat and more. Each is recalled with empathy, and indeed, All Tied Together becomes a scrapbook of their lives, in all of its ups and downs.
The Verdict: Sitting with All Tied Together feels like a rush of emotions coursing through melancholy, elation and the spectrum of feelings that exist in-between. Every song holds a heavy weight, but one that serves as Ye Vagabonds’ necessary reminders of memory and connection.
Standout track: ‘The Flood’
Release Date: January 30th, 2026 | Producer: Philip Weinrobe | Label: River Lea, Rough Trade Records
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