Album Review: Mikhael Paskalev - What's Life Without Losers

Lackadaisical Norwegian troubadour Mikhael Paskalev takes his tight whiteys and runs with them on debut album, What's Life Without Losers. The album plays like Devendra Banhart on a steady diet of Paul Simon, Nick Drake and the Davies brothers – a hefty slice of weirdnik pop that bristles with hooks and slanted irreverence. That isn't to say that things don't get serious – Susie is an amiable yet bittersweet ode to the love that got away, and the best track here – and whether cranking the electric or feathering the acoustic, Paskalev is an effervescent revelation.