Drunken crowds, long sound-checks and a hell of a schedule delay meant Jinja Safari had a bit of a tough task ahead when they took to the stage at Coalition on Saturday night.

The Sydney band, which formed in 2010, are self-described producers of “Afropop rhythms”.

What that roughly translates as onstage is a jumble of bongo drums and chiming guitars, all interspersed with a cheerful African-inspired island quality.

It all sounds quite jovial on paper but a trio of Aussie lads, channelling African vibes in the south of England wasn’t quite the transcultural mish-mash one might hope for.

Perhaps it was simply a case of wrong place and wrong time. The sitar might have gone down better twanging away on a beachfront, rather than a grimy, sweaty nightclub at two in the morning.

Nonetheless the boys worked the audience well, with plenty of hands-in-the-air, shout-with-me-now opportunities.

Popular singles such as Mermaids, Forest Eyes and Hiccups were crowd pleasers and a failed stage invasion during the final song (the security staff were alarmingly diligent) didn’t put a dampner on things.

The band’s Myspace page goes to great lengths to compare Jinja Safari’s sound to other bands on the market and maybe that’s half the problem.

They never quite reached the rich, melodic ambience of Sigur Rós, nor the catchy riffs of Friendly Fires.

For such a unique programme description, it all seemed a tad familiar. Nevertheless, while their sound isn’t groundbreaking, when paired with bag-fulls of energy, sweat and drinks it still managed to splash some sunshine on to an otherwise chilly Brighton evening.