Macdara Yeates releases new single Alexander today, the latest track from his forthcoming second album Mudlark Ballads, due on September 4th on streaming platforms, CD and vinyl.
A traditional Irish love song, Alexander finds a would-be suitor reaching across centuries of mythology, scripture and ancient history in a desperate bid to woo his love. The narrator summons a cast of mythological figures before invoking the song’s namesake, Alexander the Great — transforming a simple declaration of love into a sweep through legend and history:
“Don’t place your mind on riches, love, or on such worldly store,
But think on Alexander, dear, and you’ll love me the more,
For when he conquered Asia, he sat and wept full sore,
For there was but the one wide world and he could gain no more.”
Where his 2024 debut Traditional Singing from Dublin was raw and a cappella, Mudlark Ballads will see Yeates step into a very different sound world. Produced by Gilla Band‘s Daniel Fox, the album wraps his centuries-old Irish folk repertoire in strings, found-sounds, found-percussion, drones, spoken interludes, bells, kazoos and handclaps. Alongside reinterpretations of songs like the seven-minute epic Matt Hyland, the album includes the first commercial recordings of De May Bush and De Kilmainham Minit — two forgotten Dublin street songs uncovered in the archives of the National Library of Ireland.
Yeates has long been a central figure in Dublin’s folk ecosystem. In 2012 he co-founded The Night Before Larry Got Stretched, a folk song collective that served as an early proving ground for members of Lankum, Landless, Ye Vagabonds and Lisa O’Neill. From 2013 to 2017 he performed with Skipper’s Alley — a group well known to KLOF readers and one that also counted John Francis Flynn among its founding members. His debut earned a place on MOJO’s Top 10 Folk Albums of the Year and two RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Award nominations including Best Folk Singer.
A launch tour of Ireland and the UK will follow across autumn and winter 2026, with US and European dates to be announced in 2027.
Mudlark Ballads (September 4th, 2026)
ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR
Sep 18-20 – Durham Folk Festival, Durham
Oct 9 – The Róisín Dubh, Galway
Oct 11 – DeBarra’s Folk Club, Clonakilty
Oct 14 – Oh Yeah! Centre, Belfast
Oct 18 – Coughlan’s, Cork
Oct 22 – Sandino’s, Derry
Nov 1 – The Sugar Club, Dublin
Nov 4 – Cecil Sharp House, London
Nov 7 – Glossop Labour Club, Glossop
Nov 8 – Red Deer Folk Club @ Zapato, Marsden
Dec 1 – Kitchen Garden Café, Birmingham
Dec 2 – Samuel Worth Chapel, Sheffield
Dec 9 – Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith, London