Remember Speech Debelle? The London spoken-word artist seemingly appeared out of nowhere to scoop the 2009 Mercury prize – and the room “fell into a shocked silence” as her name was announced. Since then, she signed with Big Dada records and drifted into obscurity some time after the release of her 2012 album Freedom of Speech.

Tonight, there’s the sense that she has something to prove. “Can I be honest with you for a second?” she asks the crowd. “I’m really fucking nervous.”

The crowd laugh and whoop encouragingly as Debelle explains that this is her first time playing new material from forthcoming album, Breathe. Written after she realised she’d been dampening the effects of anxiety attacks with alcohol, the album tells the story of Debelle’s newfound sobriety and a resulting period of introspection.

At first, she moves hesitantly across the cavernous stage, her voice sweetly rolling over rap-like verses about everything from struggling with depression to finding time to see her nan. Debelle tends to look timid, but her band – including album co-producer Nick Trepka, singer Miss Baby Sol and Noisettes frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa on a couple of songs – drive the gig, particularly on pulsating centrepiece The Work.

At points, Debelle comes perilously close to having her thunder stolen by the charismatic Shoniwa, but she performs passionately and emotively. You can tell that these songs come from the heart. That’s probably why most of the audience stick around to appear as unpaid extras in her video for single Terms and Conditions, shot in the venue after the gig ends. Whether she becomes a critical darling this time around or not, her dedicated fanbase certainly won’t be forgetting her name.