With all manner of big hitters returning to the fray this fortnight, it’s a pleasure to report that the pick of the bunch come not from New York, London, Manchester or even Dublin, but from Cork. Beaming in from a starting point so off the wall that they should, by rights, have backed themselves down a one way alley to obscurity, Fred somehow manage to combine potentially jarring elements – spoken lyrics, a Stax-esque brass section, punk rock guitars and drums, lounge funk bass and percussion – into a magical whole. Ireland’s produced its fair share of genuine musical mavericks over the past while – here’s another name to add to the list.