Best known throughout Northern Europe for his fluid guitar skills and a knack for penning peppy little pop tunes, Milow hopes to break into the highly-coveted North American marketplace with his self-titled release.

Milow’s musical comfort-zone tends to incorporate an equalization of pop and folk through the use of acoustic guitars, light-hearted lyrics, and memorable melodies. His voice has a sweet and clean tone, and it is as carefully phrased as his picking is precise. He also has an inclination to harmonize selectively, wisely avoiding clutter in his compositions. Cello and piano are sparsely added to his tidy melodic lines to provide them the necessary amount of haunted mystery. Sometimes he dabbles in an alt-country style, but he prevents over-saturating an already long album (eighteen tracks) by consistently bringing back simplistic arrangements.

The majority of his songs are optimistic, despite the soft and contemplative voice nature of his lilting lullaby voice. In an interesting contrast, his eulogy to a murdered woman “Stephanie” is a bright and danceable piano tune, easily the most upbeat of any on the album. As if a tailor-made bribe to possible Canadian fans, he includes the Barenaked-esque “Canada” which features an alt-country guitar-and-violin-hook, and easily boasts the album’s most complex instrumentals.

On the whole, Milow does not need to rely on production tricks to impress himself upon the listener. In fact, his sincere, confessional delivery is both lingering and endearing. All told, Milow’s official North American debut is a winning combination of simplicity and sincerity.