Sometimes you hear an entire album and just have absolutely no idea where the music is from, not a clue. You could listen to the Shin's album EgAri a hundred times--with its polyphonic, multi-string, multi-percussion, sometimes-jazzy-flamenco-ish-Middle Eastern-ecclesiastical sound--and be no closer to figuring out where they're from. I mean that as a testament to the group that comes, in fact, from Georgia, as in the Republic of . . .

I had Georgia on my mind ever since reading about the quirky, multifarious country in Gully Wells' December 2007 Condé Nast Traveler story, "Georgia Uncorked". So perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised that the music follows suit. "Take this Morning" alternates between vigorous and down tempo strings, with various group members lending vocal gymnastics. (Look for one of the string player's impromptu dances above.) "Born in the Saddle" is another robust number, in which Asian steppes seem to meet Scandinavian folk, with jazz scatting thrown in. Then it's South Indian meets klezmer in the song "On Tiptoes." And so it goes.

You can catch the Shin playing throughout Europe over the next several months. The band's name means "home," the album title "That's it!" Whatever their sound is, it's fascinating stuff . . . and more importantly, it's just damn fun.