Lake Komo @ Night and Day, 2 July

Lake Komo are sincere. They peddle largely acoustic soft rock that lets you know, pretty much from the outset, that these four people like American guitar music of a certain period. A LOT. Like The War on Drugs, here is a band unafraid to tip their hats in respect to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, The Eagles and 14 Songs-period Paul Westerberg.

Frontman Jay Nudd has an expressive rock voice that shifts nicely from a growl to a falsetto in a way that recalls Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik. As the set progresses, however, an over-reliance on that falsetto – and an eventual shift into ill-conceived vocoder territory – has Nudd sounding more like Justin Hawkins of The Darkness. Which would be fine if caricature was what the band intended, but you can see from the pained expressions of drummer Liam Maxwell and bassist Pete Bentley, who sit nodding along to the words, that they mean it – and believe it’s a soulful and empowering trick.

All the same, they show promise, and they have a kernel of real talent in the form of keyboard player Jess Gould. On record, these songs are transformed, with Gould's backing vocals higher in the mix and Nudd himself not trying so hard to please. If they were to change things up, to the extent of having Gould front some of the songs, Lake Komo have it in them to be an interesting proposition.

They close the set with their most recent single, Milwaukee, and for a minute you can see Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire, searching through the radio for a song to soundtrack his triumph – only instead of Freefallin’, it’s Milwaukee he hears. “I was born on the 4^th of July,” he sings along. “You were breaking my heart…” It’s a beautiful dream and a glimpse of what Lake Komo could be.