POP REVIEW : FLOCK OF SEAGULLS PROVES TO BE AVIARY OF BOREDOM

In the offbeat film “Repo Man,” a character explained his aversion to cars with the observation, “The more you drive, the less intelligent you are.”

An offshoot of that theory seems apropos to A Flock of Seagulls’ music--the longer they play, the more dimwitted their songs become. At least that was the case Thursday when the flock flew into San Juan Capistrano for a sold-out show at the Coach House.

The increasing vacuousness of the British band’s songs was emphasized in a 90-minute set built around its latest “Dream Come True” album, which contains some of the least sophisticated and thought-provoking lyrics to come out of England since Herman’s Hermits.

Lead singer Mike Score has always been an unexceptional vocalist whose personality stops at his wind-swept coiffure. He delivered the group’s recent single, “Heartbeat Like a Drum,” so rigidly that he projected all the passion of a “heartbeat like a metronome.”

It was only toward the end of the show, when he stepped off the stage onto front row tables and shook a few hands that he made the remotest attempt to establish a rapport with the audience.

Oddly, the group didn’t play the new album’s most interesting song, “Whole Lot of Loving,” with its polyrhythmic interplay between percussion and synthesizers, sticking instead to one relentless, repetitive tune after another.

At least the instrumental attack, propelled by Ali Score’s aggressive drumming and Gary Steadnin’s lively guitar work, gave these fluffy dance tunes more muscle than they received on record. Steadnin and keyboard player Chris Chryssaphis are supplementing the Seagulls’ core lineup of the Score brothers and bassist Frank Maudsley on the current tour, which also is due at Garfield’s in Huntington Beach tonight and at Magic Mountain on Friday.

Given the empty-headedness of its lyrics, along with the fact that the group hasn’t cracked the Top 10 since its 1982 hit “I Ran,” the Seagulls’ best bet for the future may be the dance crowd, where the only thinking required is handled by the feet.

But heed this warning: Avoid at all costs listening to this group’s music while driving.