With a name that supposedly means intoxication or great strength in Old Norse, Afenginn prefer to refer to themselves as a more mutated ethno band. They're Danish, but don't sound it. Formed in Copenhagen in 2002, they originally drew a lot from klezmer and Balkan music, but skewed through a very personal prism that drew from many sources, with much of the material written by mandolinist Kym Nyberg. Their first real album, Retrograd, won them a Danish World Music Award as Best World Music Album in 2005, and its follow-up, Akrobakkus, hit the world music charts two years later. The band has received support from Danish Arts, and Nyberg has been given composition grants. In 2007, bass player Andrzej Krejniuk quit the band, to be replaced by Aske Jacoby, whose day job happens to be as Denmark's leading session guitarist. In 2008 the group released the adventurous Reptilica Polaris, a grander departure from its previous work and featuring a choir and full brass section, celebrating the disc with several Danish concerts featuring all the participants. ~ Chris Nickson