Camille, Koko, London

Camille Dalmais is an avant-garde, French, a cappella chanteuse. Which is the sort of sentence that should make you want to punch something. But see her perform live and the only thing you're likely to punch is the air. The songs themselves are considerably less avant-garde than Camille's means of performing them: most, played conventionally with instruments, say would be pure pop with an edge. But there's much more to it than that.

Her a cappella troupe of five boys and two girls, led by British producer MaJiKer, are stunning. Aside from an occasional burst of piano, the entire show is conjured from their bodies. The percussive sounds are one thing with their hand-clapping, palm-rubbing, chest-beating and foot-stamping the band effectively turn themselves into human drumkits. But more impressive still are the remarkable vocal approximations of real instruments, from a Massive Attack-style beatbox, to the bumblebee brass of French chanson (and both in a single song, "Waves"). Together, the group is a beat sequencer one minute and a gospel choir the next.

Comparisons with Bjrk are inevitable, since the Icelandic singer was the last major artist to try a cappella with any seriousness. Music Hole, Camille's latest collection (and her first in English) was mixed in Reykjavik by Bjrk regular Valgeir Sigurosson.

At home, she's a superstar. In 2005, her second album, Le Fil, sold more than 200,000 copies in France alone, garnering her the Gallic equivalent of the Mercury Prize.

Camille is a hoot. The evidence is there in her lyrics, or in the punning title of Music Hole. The instances of audience participation, normally such a drag, are instead a joy. We're required to yell "Wall!" at the correct moments during a rendition of "Humpty Dumpty", then to make miaowing and woofing sounds during "Cats and Dogs".

Camille sang for Paris-based outfit Nouvelle Vague on one of their bossa nova covers albums, and here she reprises one of those covers the Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to Fuck" in her own inimitable style, even turning the hiccups into a musical instrument.

For her second encore, she emerges in a slinky black dress that, when she turns her back, reveals rather more than expected. The final number, "Money Note", is a vocal spectacular for all eight performers, during which Camille references Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, and Celine Dion, finally screeching, "I just wanna beat Mariah!" Thank heavens she's not really trying to.