With the appearance of former recording engineer David Wrench, the race to be the first 6ft 5in synth-playing Welsh albino is over. Benignly sizing up the sparse audience, this bleached character cuts possibly the oddest figure in pop. He wears head-to-toe white leather, but his camp mannerisms are counterpointed by a surprisingly resonant voice.

The sexual ambiguity is heightened by a song called Superhorny, a graphic appreciation of Jeremy Paxman. At this point, a few girls start to look interested, but anything goes in this arty corner of east London.

He's accompanied on stage by resigned-looking sidekicks on keyboards and guitar. And despite appearances, it seems he's for real. Wrench is a thirtysomething descendant of Freddie Mercury and Boy George, who understands that theatricality and serious songwriting are not mutually exclusive. He has the balance just about right, though if he ever makes any money, the theatricality will probably be ramped up. At the moment his budget extends to the leather suit and the sort of swivelling disco lights used by mobile DJs.

Like so much current indie music, Wrench is influenced by the synth-wielding behemoths of the 1980s. The fat, Human Leagueish choruses of Sodium Lights and Do It to You Wrong suit his bottom-heavy baritone, but he's also equal to the slowed-down You Make Things Hard, a sly adaptation of Ultravox's Vienna.

Afterward, he sells copies of his first CD, The Atomic World of Tomorrow. Apparently the last time he played in London, two members of the EastEnders cast bought it. If a track like Baby, You Make Things Hard for Me (most of his tunes are laced with excruciating double entendres) makes it onto the Queen Vic jukebox, it would be just the push he needs to take his ridiculously catchy electro-pop to the nation.

· At Bar Academy, Birmingham, tomorrow. Box office: 0121-262 3000