A standard lamp, a portable television broadcasting static, stuffed tigers and general foliage litter the small stage. When Tiny Dancers appear, resplendent in Adam Ant-style face paint, the first thing that cape-wearing vocalist David Kay does is throw a bagful of balloons into the absurdly packed crowd.

This hotly tipped Sheffield five-piece are a band of multiple idiosyncrasies, not least of which is the contrast between their appearance and their music. They may resemble a gaggle of zany-shirted kids' TV presenters, but Tiny Dancers major in a classicist strain of 1960s-hued rock ripe with melodies. Opener 20 to 9, the lead track from their new Lions and Tigers and Lions EP, recalls 1990s Mancunian folk heroes James. I've Got to Go, by contrast, begins with a gorgeous shimmer of Byrds-like West Coast guitar, before morphing into a pigeon-toed hoedown.

There is levity in the presentation but gravity in the snaking, deep-seated rhythms. Slight of build and with a peroxide mop, Kay is a charismatic focus, eliciting fond sighs from the women in the audience as he reacts to his band's spring-heeled rhythms by jack-knifing from the waist in a bizarre rag-doll dance. The itchy Sun Goes Down marries sun-kissed Californian pop with old-school glam rock, like 1970s titans the Sweet attempting to mug Neil Young, and after the beautifully plaintive Ashes and Diamonds, Kay exits with one last shake of his blonde fringe.

These eccentric arrivistes are looking like stars in the making.

· At Club Ifor Bach, Cardiff, on Tuesday 28 November. Box office: 029 2023 2199. Then touring.