Youth Lagoon @ Gorilla, 16 July

Given that the past few years have seen Manchester's self-proclaimed 'promoters extraordinaire' Now Wave inch towards a monopoly over the city's most exciting live shows, it's pretty surprising that tonight is the first time Youth Lagoon has played here. On record, Youth Lagoon is merely the stagename of solo artist Trevor Powers, whose sonic palette comprises woozy synths, chiming guitars and filtered vocals. Live, though, Powers has made the shrewd decision to flesh things out with a full backing band, making his project an altogether different proposition on stage.

Powers has a little bit of lost time to make up for, which is perhaps the motivation behind opening his set with Mute, the shimmering standout on his superb sophomore LP, Wondrous Bughouse. It's a move that doesn't totally come off, though; the band are on shaky sonic ground for the first few songs, with the guitar too high in the mix and the vocals almost inaudible.

Once those issues are straightened out, however, we're able to appreciate the amount of consideration Powers has given to bringing his songs to life in front of an audience. The addition of live drums proves as important as it did on Bughouse, infusing the likes of Raspberry Cane and Dropla with real energy and verve, while the increased clarity of Powers' vocals – which are without the distortion present on record – gives his songs a humanity their studio versions rarely possess.

It's refreshing to see an artist with bedroom-pop roots take his live craft so seriously, and it makes tonight a strong contender for the year's most compelling Manchester debut. [Joe Goggins]