Sam Smith

Sam Smith is a 22-year old British soul singer whose music throbs with pain and longing far beyond his tender years. Some of the chart-baiting of debut In The Lonely Hour lies in the depth-charging sincerity suffusing his voice as he begs a would-be paramour to ditch the lover or admits, forthrightly, that he totally isn’t in love with someone he nonetheless doesn’t want to let go of. It’s dramatic and complicated – a kind of performative meta-puzzle fledgling careers are built upon.

Thu., Sept. 18, 8 p.m., 2014