With a track title as stupendously emo as 'Kill Our Way To Heaven', you'd be forgiven for swerving newcomer Michl's work at first glance. And what a fool you'd be to judge a book by its cover, because this Cali crooner has utterly crushed his downtempo pop competition on his first try. There's a deliberately clinical edge to the production on 'Kill Our Way To Heaven', with spartan drums spiked with glowering guitar filigrees, but if anything, it only increases the potency of Michl's own tender, willowy vocal. Perfectly weighted between gnarly, sparse electronica and smooth, warming R&B, Michl has already risen to the skies without harming a soul. - DC