Great album titles and pep, that’s about it

A phenomenally successful act in its native Spain, La Oreja de Van Gogh is the kind of likable band whose assets are somewhat peripheral to the music itself.

The quintet has an irresistible leader in bubbly, blond vocalist Amaia Montero. It also keeps things organic by favoring a collaborative approach to songwriting and by consistently coming up with great album titles. The group’s third and latest collection is named “Lo Que Te Conte Mientras Te Hacias La Dormida” (What I Told You While You Pretended to Be Asleep), which in Spanish has a deliciously whimsical ring to it.

Judging by the band’s set on Monday at the House of Blues, however, La Oreja’s songs are seriously lacking in substance -- even for sugary pop-rock that it so gleefully embraces.

Think of La Oreja as the Spanish equivalent of the Swedish pop group the Cardigans, minus the Bacharach influence. Oscillating between jangly pop choruses and polite, rock-friendly guitar riffs, the band delivered Monday the kind of peppy summer anthems that become truly memorable only if you happen to have fallen desperately in love during that particular season.

Can’t blame Montero, though. On stage, she flirted playfully with both her bandmates and the audience, generating the evening’s most riveting moment when she segued from a moribund unplugged segment to the exuberant “Pop,” complete with thumping house beats and teasing disco moves.

True to its origin, La Oreja has embraced Euro-pop as a way of life. Sure, the landscapes are quaint and picturesque. But do we really want to go live there?