During the insistent shimmy of their 2012 track Flutes, four members of Hot Chip have assembled in a line behind their keyboard stacks for a dance routine, rotating in time to the skipping-song beat. Meanwhile, a beaming man hugs me and plants a smacker on top of my head. It is hands-on proof that the veteran pop eccentrics can create an infectious atmosphere of dancefloor camaraderie even in a chilly warehouse on a rainy Scottish night.

Ahead of a summer bulging with festival dates in the UK and beyond comes this brief jaunt round relatively small venues, featuring some Hot Chip material fresh from the fryer. The London five-piece (who bulk up to seven on the road) play three new songs tonight, presumably from the follow-up to their sixth album Why Make Sense? They are experimenting with new team branding, too, sporting patchwork jackets daubed in spray-can green and pink, an eye-catching colour scheme that extends to singer Alexis Taylor’s hair.

Squint and they could be wearing spattered lab coats, which feels appropriate. Their knack for bringing humanism to house-inflected electronica means Hot Chip belong in the same bracket as self-effacing Brit tinkerers such as Nick Park and Oliver Postgate. They construct club bangers with the appealingly handmade feel of the Clangers, exemplified by the bric-a-brac funk of Over and Over. That metronomic 2006 earworm triggers the biggest cheer of the night.

Their new material initially seems to skew dark, with the beat-free Hungry Child – featuring plaintive lead vocals from Joe Goddard – eventually pulsing into ominous life, a sunken monolith of dark-matter disco. Melody of Love veers the other way, revealing itself to be a glittering slice of Erasure-ish euphoria. If these artful synth forays suggest evolution over revolution, Hot Chip are still capable of springing a surprise. A late-game cover of Sabotage by the Beastie Boys is unexpectedly authentic, frenzied bassline and all, before a climactic Ready for the Floor, its bittersweet Casio bounce still sounding boxfresh more than a decade after its release.

• At Gorilla, Manchester, 3 April. Then touring until 6 April.