Mollevit

A decade ago, a handful of folk and jazz students at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in southern Denmark were inspired by Canada's La Bottine Souriante to start a Danish folk big band. ‘The original idea was to blow some wild folk music into people’s heads. This music was originally made for dancing, and that's the energy we want to put out,' explains Kristian Bugge, Habadekuk's award-winning fiddler. Subsequently, this lively eight-piece band's vibrant mix of folk, salsa and big band jazz has made them one of Denmark's favourite folk bands, with an impressive cache of awards to prove it. Fiery live performances, careering from wild polkas and sailor songs to lyrical waltzes, are also helping to make them a potent, dance floor-filling force. Making satisfying albums is quite another skill set, though, and Mollevit is a valuable lesson in reining in just enough of that ferocious energy and wackiness in order to make an album that promises to remain eminently listenable for a good while to come.