7/10

After first making a name for himself as the bass player for Norwegian outfit Sløtface, a band at the forefront of the European pop-punk revival, producer Lasse Løkoy has spent the last few months reinventing himself as a dab hand at alt-pop. After a string of bold and irreverent releases near the end of last year, he has now returned to deliver his debut solo album 'Badminton', a record that shows that this is far from just another side-project on the market.

For those familiar with Sløtface, this Lokoy project will come as a sudden surprise given that neither of these identities seem to have any crossover whatsoever. While his formative group deal heavily in hard and blistering punk aesthetics, 'Badminton' is this broad and diverse array of psychedelic and experiential pop offerings that shows an incredibly playful dynamic. Just when you think you have a handle on his style or direction, he'll throw something completely different at you to create this vivid and explorative world of musical ideas that somehow gel together in their own way.

It may just be a quick endeavour for the artist at the moment, but 'Badminton' has this rich and vibrant flair to it that seems to put it in a world all of its own. Unpredictable and undefinable in almost every way, Lokoy is one of those rare gems on the scene right now that seems to just do his own thing with reckless abandon for any opinion or input to it, making for a very refreshing listen throughout.