You might wonder how one man and a piano could fill Theatre Royal Brighton – both in terms of seats and sound.

Benjamin Clementine managed both with ease.

The much-lauded rising star has drawn comparisons to Nina Simone in his vocal style and Erik Satie in his piano compositions.

But there was something more that goes beyond mere imitation. It was a third component to his sound missing from so many acts. Soul.

It came out in his voice – in warbles, dribbles, trills, tremelo, falsetto bursts and head-voice vaults into the stratosphere.

His thick, sweet, rich, distinctive vocal was perfectly complemented with busy and scatty yet delicate and fragile arpeggios on the keys, the likes of which Philip Glass would be proud.

These components together created a perfectly balanced audio spectrum containing light and shade, substance and space.

Clementine brought on a cello player for half of his set, though, good as she was, the instrument was not really needed, save a couple of tricksy pizzicato turns.

The performance overall, though not flawless, was more than good enough to grace any recording.

And the man's abilities alone were enough to leave any size of audience fully replete.

Four stars