The Thrills, ULU, London

The virtues of a no-frills attitude

The Thrills don't sound like The Datsuns or The Vines or The White Stripes. At a pinch, they sound a bit like The Strokes – but only really because the singer, Conor Deasey, shares Julian Casablancas's pleasing tendency to force his voice into a manly bark occasionally. Mostly, though, the vocals are breathy, the music breezy, and the mood that of a laid-back afternoon driving up some long, rolling coastline – the west coast of the USA, say.

Thoughtfully, the band have packed their lyrics with itinerary suggestions. "Santa Cruz you're not that far", chimes their debut single, and there's barely a song that doesn't refer to some Californian town or other, from Big Sur to San Diego. The sea also gets a look in, with lines like "We'll laugh till the tide comes in" aplenty. Yes, these lucky Dubliners recorded their album in LA, as anyone who didn't know would surely guess. The sound is pure Californiana – music for sand dunes and cabriolets.

Trouble is, London in March is not California and the ULU is not Highway 1, by any stretch of the imagination. The Thrills somehow don't quite have the power to take us there. They come across as consummate, polished professionals, every hair and harmony in place – astonishing, considering this is the band's largest-ever headline gig, as Deasey rather wetly informs the crowd. His shy banter belies an otherwise impressive stage presence, while guitarists Padraic McMahon and Daniel Ryan stomp around beside him. They play all their excellent songs faultlessly, yet remain curiously unexciting. Nobody dances.

In true Beach Boys spirit, The Thrills are riding in on the current wave of New Rock: old-fashioned name, foppish hair, short songs, etc. You can hear it in their choice of coming-on music ("Billie Jean") or in the thrashing that Ben Carrigan inflicts on his bass drum during the current single, "One Horse Town". But "One Horse Town" is not a great single because it rocks; it's a hit single because it's a beautiful voicesinging a beautiful melody with a beautifully unexpected chord change going into the chorus.

While others in the so-called new rock revolution are all about attitude, rock'n'roll and, indeed, thrills, The Thrills are musicians. They're about making music that's pretty, that you'll love not because it got you (po)going one night at a beer-sloshed gig, but because it was on the radio all summer long. Maybe future gigs will excite people more once they know the songs – there's definite sing-along potential here. The Thrills' seriousness suggests they could outlast their more barnstorming contemporaries. Undoubtedly the proof of the pudding will be in the debut album, scheduled for June. At best, it'll be Ireland's answer to Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips. If they put it out in time for everyone to get familiar with the songs, and then play the festivals, then they might be thrilling. But tonight everyone stood stock still, and I don't think it was out of awe.