He wears his heart on his sleeve, Michael McGoldrick.

Playing wooden flute, uileann pipes, low whistle and bamboo flute with the odd electric guitar chord sequence thrown in for good measure, he fuses instruments, genres and moods as though licensed to kill preconceptions of what can make for cosy bedmates. With six originals sitting alongside seven more traditional tunes (albeit ones subject to distinctly innovative arrangements), he makes no bones about his appetite for experimentation on Fused.

Fused is exactly what it says it is then: old and new ideas melded to create entirely new compounds that refuse to fit seamlessly into our traditional notions of jigs, reels and hornpipes. And the results of this experimentation? Probably one of the most refreshing collections to see the light of day since Moving Hearts lay their cardiac muscles to rest.