Think of Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol and Liverpool. There is a sound synonymous with each place – baggy, electronic, trip hop and Merseybeat – because at some point in history something in the urban fabric fused with the locals’ outlook to create a unique musical reference.

For all its celebrated creativity, Brighton has never had a sound to call its own. That may be because the city’s artists have preferred to furrow alone or because its transient nature means many successful bands citing Brighton as home were not born here.

Tom White, however – half of Electric Soft Parade and one of the city’s biggest exports in recent years – has Brighton in his blood; he was 16 and studying for his GCSEs at Hove Park School when he was offered a record deal.

Seven labels and countless albums later, White, now 25, has his second solo album due in March. Among the many things he has had on his mind since the album was finished almost six months ago is that it’s time Brighton created a musical reference for outsiders.

“Brighton’s the sort of place where people are just a little too self-conscious,” says White, who will play The Albert tonight with a full backing band.

“They don’t have that kind of ego and there is not the history of somewhere like Manchester where the music scene gets talked about in a very specific way.

“There are tons of great bands and tons of great records – certainly in the past ten years there have been hundreds of Brighton bands.

“It started with Clearlake and Electrelane. Then there was us and British Sea Power, The Maccabees, and now The Agitator, a hip hop two-piece I am in love with. It’s a guy called Derek Meins, who used to play with Eastern Lane from Berwick, but he moved down here, and Robert Dylan Thomas, formerly of The Maccabees.

“Brighton’s [music scene] doesn’t call itself anything. I think it should. It’s nice to have something people outside of the city can reference.”

White confesses his theory is not the finished article, “I guess talk to me after the next record and I’ll have it nailed,” he says, jokingly. But he is certain it should come from within.

“I don’t want it to be imposed by someone like Paul Morley [the former NME critic], despite the fact I love his pop equations: St Etienne x De La Soul = whoever.”

White is currently working on a new Electric Soft Parade album – due to be recorded in the next six months – and has recently completed a solo album, The Maximalist, whose title nods to his current creative approach to songwriting.

“To me, a maximalist is someone to whom anything and everything is material for their art,” says White. “It’s like when you ask someone what kind of music they listen to and they say ‘a bit of everything’, but that actually means being truly open to everything.

“It doesn’t matter whether that particular thing is something you hate that makes you say ‘I never want to make a piece of music that sounds like that’. Or whether it’s something you’ve listened to for months and it goes on to inform stuff you do.”

White says maximalism is reflective of the way many musicians in Brighton are creating, so an album celebrating its ideology might be just what the city needs.

* Doors 8pm, Tom on stage at 9pm, £4, call Resident Records on 01273 606312 or Rounder Records on 01273 325440