Olive Rocks House With a Somewhat Lighter Touch

When British trip-hop group Olive trotted out a rendition of 10cc’s 1975 hit “I’m Not in Love” during its sold-out show at Arcadia on Tuesday, one question came to mind: If electronica is so revolutionary, how come its acts still perpetuate such lame rock traditions as covering songs that were bad ideas the first time around?

Well, in this case it’s probably because singer Ruth-Ann and keyboardist-producer Tim Kellett are more like modern pop artists than dance-music radicals. Drawn mostly from their current album, “Trickle,” the hourlong set bore only occasional, vague similarities to such genre icons as Portishead.

Olive’s sensibilities were lighter, if still lyrically obsessed with the pain and euphoria of love. Rather than creating a sense of isolation on the edge of despair, however, songs such as “Beyond the Fray” and the older “You’re Not Alone” fostered warm feelings of connection on the packed dance floor.

A guitarist provided watery, Siouxsie & the Banshees-style atmosphere that blended nicely with the beat loops, ethereal bleeps and whatnot. Yet the mood was somewhat diluted because the house lights stayed up the entire time, presumably due to the show’s being videotaped. Nevertheless, Olive proved a pleasant diversion, if not particularly memorable or moving beyond the moment.

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Olive plays tonight at Solid Rotation at Club Lingerie, 6507 Sunset Blvd., 10 p.m. $10. (323) 769-5349.