Dublin band Pugwash had a surprise visitor to the studio last week when American musician Ben Folds popped in to tinkle the ivories. The Thomas Walsh-led band are recording their fifth album, the follow-up to 2008's Eleven Modern Antiquities.

Folds, who also recorded a “fake” version of his album Way to Normal in Dublin several years ago during a gap in his tour schedule, was in town to play a gig at Vicar Street last Friday. “It came about because of Ben’s friendship with Fergal Davis, who’s engineering my new album, and his friendship with my partner in musical cricket-crime Lewis ,” said Walsh, who was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award with Hannon last year for their Duckworth Lewis Method collaboration.

“Ben popped by our session last Thursday with Neil, he liked what he heard, and lo and behold we found an old keyboard in the storage room. He ended up plonking Floyd Cramer-style piano on a track that I wrote for a dear friend of mine and the band’s, the English actress Belinda Stewart-Wilson.”

The track, entitled

Dear Belinda

, will feature on the as-yet-untitled album, which will be released this summer. Pugwash also play their first gig in almost a year at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall tonight at 7pm.