Milo Greene, Castle Hotel Manchester 25th January 2012 9/10

Heavy snow in Manchester did nothing to deter music lovers from making this sold out gig, although it must have been a novel experience for the Los Angeles' band. Milo Greene only released their debut, self titled album in the UK this week, yet they ended up adding two extra London shows to this tour. They played several major US television shows last year, and their profile is rising quickly over on this side of the pond. The cynical may suggest that this demonstrates compromise for commercial success.

The 405 music site yesterday published a critique of the album using the argument that they sound too eager to please, too middle of the road, and lacking variety of inspiration in their song writing: 'for all the lush reverberation and stellar harmonies to be found here, this is something slightly suspect about the whole operation'.  Yet, this is pop music after all, not opera, and a judgement based on their studio work doesn't consider the all important dimension of live performance.

Milo Greene was created as a fictitious booking agent created by the band to help get them gigs in the early days. They describe him as "British. He wears a three-piece-suit. He wears a monocle. He's albino. He has chops, sideburns. He's confident, charming, well-read, well-spoken. He's a gentlemen, the kind of guy we all aspire to be." The music's folk influences are derived from Crosby Still Nash and Young, combined with the gloss of Fleetwood Mac.

The most striking element of their show is that four of the five band members are singers and multi instrumentalist and so they interchange roles and instruments (there's also a drummer) . The four leads have headed up their own projects previously, and all are talented vocalists in their own right. Their movement around the tiny stage at the Castle Hotel added interest. More importantly though, they sound incredibly tight, and appeared totally committed to the music. You couldn't fail to become emotionally involved witnessing music making of this quality at such close quarters.

They performed two covers: the first being a virtuoso rendition of Sufjan Steven's Chicago, when oddly the audience appeared to lose interest and start chattering. More warmly received was Wilco's Shot in the Arm, when an audience member sporting a Wilco T-shirt was enlisted to play the tambourine. My favourites from the original material were What's the Matter and the closing 1957.

Milo Greene's impact is already being compared with Haim's, an LA band who broke through spectacularly in 2012. I feel lucky to have seen them in such a small venue, as I believe they have the broad appeal and talent to follow their compatriots to stardom. Yes, the music has is easy on the ear, but it's never bland and it's so well executed here that it makes a real impact. A must see live.

Set List

• Staging Point
• Wooden Antlers
• Dyguom
• Silent Way
• What's the Matter
• Son my Son
• Chicago (Sufjan Stevens Cover)
• Autumn Tree
• Polaroid
• Perfectly Alight
• Take a Step
• Cutty Love
• Shot in the Arm (Wilco Cover)
• 1957