There's no less cool a spectacle than four guys who are young enough to know better standing on stage with silly hairstyles and Rolling Stones '81 tour T-shirts and simply feeling the music.

But sometimes there's also nothing more charming.

The son of folk luminaries Richard and Linda, Teddy Thompson has already recorded two solo albums and his third Brighton gig within six months saw his band progress from The Greys pub to The Old Market. "The ceilings keep getting bigger," he observed. "And there are more busts."

Aside from a quintessential Englishness that his latter years in LA couldn't shake, there is nothing to link this slender, JD & Cokedrinking joker to his parents.

Straightforward lyrics about love and disappointment are far removed from his father's idiosyncratic narratives, and there is none of that earthy fire.

Instead Thompson junior has the looks and humour of a perfectly cast Prince Hal, David Bowie's preop teeth, and an instantly likeable voice that combines the warm, clear tones of Neil Finn with the sensual drawl of his studio backing singer and drinking partner Rufus Wainwright.

Thought by some to lack colour on record, live it was often breathtakingly gorgeous and distinctive enough to sustain a long career in this singer-songwriting business.

Thompson is more than capable of rocking out: at the Brighton Festival's 2004 Leonard Cohen tribute he was something of a revelation, striding out in a dazzling white suit and introducing electric guitar into the proceedings.

But his own songwriting tends towards easy purity and melodic smoothness. When Altered State (chorus "Don't want to come off too straight-laced") turned into a highly skilled jam, several members of the middle-aged audience responded by bending their knees and stroking their chins at the same time.

After a sturdy set of fetching, folktinged, Sunday morning pop taken largely from current album Separate Ways, Thompson's young band left him on stage for the lilting acoustic gem Sorry To See You Go.