Jacob Banks is on the crest of the zeitgeist, mixing future sounds with a taste for canonical ’90s R&B – but last year’s ‘The Boy Who Cried Freedom’ EP is more than just that, nimbly switching feet from synthy EDM runs to 60s crooning in the space of a single song. It takes a strong personality to tie together elements this disparate, but Banks is ambitious, treating his forbears with respect while pushing them into uncharted digital realms. Of course, that gorgeous, plaintive voice helps too: quivering and breaking in exactly the right places, hollering in the distance, then snapping back into total focus and control. Now extending his ‘Into the Wild’ world tour thanks to popular demand, with single ‘Unknown (To You)’ hitting #1 on Hype Machine’s main chart, Banks is becoming a genuine threat.

Tue 27 Mar, 7pm at The O2 Institute, 78 Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6DY. £17 ticketmaster.co.uk