Ye Vagabonds have shared a live performance video of Mayfly, recorded at The Lilliput Press in Dublin — one of Ireland’s most distinguished independent publishing houses, known for its fiction, poetry and illustrated works produced from a unique bookshop in the heart of the city. It’s a fitting setting for brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn, whose songwriting has always carried a literary weight.
Mayfly is taken from All Tied Together (out now on River Lea – Order here), the brothers’ most recent album and, by some distance, their most ambitious and personal record to date. Writing in KLOF Mag, Thomas Blake described it as a collection that is “both bigger and somehow closer than its predecessors” — one that achieves its sense of scale through a large and varied cast of collaborators, while remaining rooted in the deeply personal. Crucially, every song on the album is wholly their own: no traditional material, for the first time in their career. Blake noted that in “focusing on their own songwriting rather than traditional material, the Mac Gloinns created a collection of songs with real emotional heft,” concluding that All Tied Together is “an album about home and companionship.”
Mayfly sits near the centre of that preoccupation. Blake described it in his review as “a character study of a friend who disappeared from the eyes of society”, and the lyric bears that out. “Long after midnight / crossed in the lamplight / pouring out a distillation / of hope and desperation” sets the scene with quiet economy, and the chorus refrain, “living like a mayfly,” accumulates a particular sadness with each return. The song asks a question the Mac Gloinn brothers don’t try to answer: “waking from a strange dream / I wonder what it all means / see her tumble in a freefall / was she really there at all?”
For the Lilliput Press performance, the brothers are joined by Alain McFadden on harmonium, synths and mandolin, Kate Ellis on cello, and Caimin Gilmore on double bass — a small ensemble that gives the song a rich, unhurried intimacy. The harmonium breathes beneath the melody, Ellis and Gilmore providing a low, aching foundation that lets the lyric’s grief settle at its own pace. It’s a rendering that honours the album version — produced by Phil Weinrobe, whose work with Big Thief brought what Blake called “a kind of restrained energy to these songs, as well as a sense of space” — while finding its own distinct warmth in the bookshop’s particular hush.
Blake concluded his review by observing that the Mac Gloinn brothers are “still living life on the move, putting everything into their music,” adding that “it’s experience that counts, and Ye Vagabonds have learnt to turn their experiences into vital, absorbing art.” Surrounded by books and the close company of sympathetic musicians, this performance makes that case quietly and completely.
The performance was filmed and edited by Myles O’Reilly, and recorded, mixed and mastered by Ben Rawlins.
Having just completed a series of US Tour dates, the brothers are now back in Ireland for more dates before heading to the EU and UK. Details below.
All Tied Together (January 30th, 2026) River Lea
Pre-Order/Save: https://yevagabonds.ffm.to/alltiedtogether
Ye Vagabonds Tour Dates
Tickets: https://yevagabonds.com/tour
Feb 19 – Belfast, NI – Mandela Hall
Feb 21 – Shannonbridge, IE – Lukers
Feb 22 – Drogheda, IE – TLT, The Tommy Leddy Theatre
Feb 26 – Ennis, IE – glór
Feb 27 – Galway, IE – Black Box
Mar 1 – Derry, NI – Guildhall
Mar 5 – Cork, IE – Cork Opera House
Mar 6 – Ballydehob, IE – Levis’ Cornerhouse
Mar 12 – Mullingar, IE – The Chambers Bar
Mar 15 – Carlow, IE – VISUAL
Mar 20 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
Mar 26 – Kilkenny, IE – Watergate Theatre
Mar 28 – Limerick, IE – Dolan’s
Apr 9 – Basel, CH - Gannet
Apr 11 – Hyères, FR – Festival Faveurs de Printemps
Apr 14 – Lille, FR - L’Aéronef
Apr 15 – Paris, FR – Petit Bain
Apr 16 – Saint Nazaire, FR – Le VIP
Apr 17 – La Roche-sur-Yon, FR – QUAI M
Apr 18 - Sare, FR – Chapelle Katalina
May 2 – Bristol, UK – Beacon
May 20 -Utrecht, NL – TivoliVredenburg (Club 9)
May 22 – Amen, NL – Cultureel Café De Amer
May 23 – Dranouter, BE – Muziekcentrum
May 26 – Passau, DE – Cafe Museum
May 27 – Esslingen, DE – Dieselstrasse
May 28 – Cologne, DE – Yuca
May 29 – Hamburg, DE – Nochtspeicher
Jun 2 – Edinburgh, UK – La Belle Angele
Jun 3 – Aberdeen, UK – The Blue Lamp
Jun 4 – Kendal, UK – Brewery Arts Centre
Jun 5 – Manchester, UK – Academy 3
Jun 6 – Stroud, UK – Sub Rooms
Jun 7 - Totnes, UK – Civic Hall
Jun 9 – Corfe Castle, UK – Sandy Hill Arts
Jun 10 – Norwich, UK – Arts Centre
Jun 11 – London, UK – Roundhouse
Sept 6 – Looe, Cornwall, UK – Kernowfornia Festival
Full Tour Dates – https://yevagabonds.com/tour