It's doubtful that the members of Hal were the most popular boys at school. Reed thin, their haircuts ranging from shoulder-skimming shaggy bob to slightly ginger afro, their name inspired by Arthur C Clarke's 2001, they're as geeky as it gets. Throw in their love of the Carpenters and you can picture the bruises.

But now the Irish quartet is having the last laugh. By stealing the best bits of swinging 60s pop and re-appraising the easy-going soundtrack to the early 1970s, Hal have enough style to give scenesters sleepless nights.

Though their debut single, Worry About the Wind, has a west coast, Beach Boys feel that prompts comparisons with fellow young Dubliners the Thrills, Hal have little in common with their anaemic compatriots. They are a band on a quest for pop perfection, and this is glossy, quirky MOR, swathed in melancholy drama and desperate romance.

There are choral keyboards and joyful stomps. And there are harmonies. Lots of them. Brothers Dave and Paul Allen, both wearing stripy T-shirts, one white, one red, look and sound like an indie Everly Brothers.

Though he looks and moves like Bernard Butler on a particularly anxious day, there's a Las Vegas crooner inside Dave Allen waiting to escape. For Comin' Right Over, his voice is both needy teen and Elvis wannabe. Bass player Paul Allen, from the stiff nod of his head to the way he lets his arched eyebrows do his emoting for him, has studied more than Paul McCartney's musical technique.

Hal swap moods like other bands swap instruments. Keep Love as Your Golden Rule is a country-flecked ballad, Dave Allen loitering over syrupy notes until they almost turn into a yodel. Play the Hits, however, could be a Goffin and King-penned theme tune to a 1970s chart show. But Hal are much more than magpies. As Dave Allen's voice cracks with emotion during the protracted plea of Satisfied, it's not some credible homage to Dylan. Just pure sincerity.