Starsailor - Somerset House, London

South, El Presidente, Starsailor

Might as well start with a joke...

The Jackson 5, Alice Cooper, Scissor Sisters and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (circa The Uplift Mofo Party Plan) walk into a bar. Five hours and a number of barfights later, El Presidente (and a visibly distressed Tito Jackson) are thrown out on their asses.

But after the half hour slo-burn just received from South, El Presidente are a welcome shock to the system and a hell of a lot of fun, because quite simply, no band struts better. Blurting out incredibly catchy tracks with as much restraint as an 8-year-old who's just learnt to swear, singles '100 Miles an Hour' and 'Without You' breeze by blissfully, all retro keyboards and blistering vocals from the sharp-suited Dante Gizzi and raven-haired minx Laura Marks. On the down side, the snatches of lyrics which surface over the cacophonies bouncing off the walls of Somerset House are as joyfully dumb as a sack of hammers, with gems like "I'm gonna rock it, fly like a rocket" being intoned with disturbing regularity.

Starsailor seem an unlikely follow-up to the majestic idiocy of El Presidente, but after opening with a surprisingly hard-edged 'Poor Misguided Fool', it's clear that James Walsh and co have a wide selection of tricks up their sleeve. Starsailor have been tagged as one of these KeanPlay-type bands who make a living out of writing glum songs for the post-teenage girl set (who are, by the way, out in force tonight) and they prove this to an extent, offering up a nauseating version of 'Alcoholic' and a selection of acoustic tracks which would fit easily into some dreary romcom chick flick.

But, there is an undeniable sense that Starsailor don't actually like performing these brow-furrowingly "meaningful" tracks. Walss wanders around the stage with his acoustic unsheathed, desperately trying to look emotionally fraught, but ends up resembling someone with a hangover stumbling around trying to find that elusive last teabag. This is illustrated perfectly by a shambolic acoustic cover of 'London Calling', in which he stops halfway through to remark, "Jesus, this is bleak".

The truth is, when Starsailor try and break their backs to appear empathetic and miserable they are no fun at all, but when the overbearing emotion is jettisoned in favour of simply playing loud and overtly unpretentious, they can be a fantastic experience, as evident during a triumphant version of 'Silence Is Easy' and a surprising cover of Kelis' 'Millionnare'. If they ditched the ballads they would be a phenomenal band, but as the audience seems to be happiest when the band at their saddest, you can't see that happening anytime soon.