I wouldn’t have recognized Leonor Watling hadn’t it been for the chance video I just saw of her group Marlango‘s last song: Hold me tight. She is a Spanish actress (British mother) who has worked with Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her – Hable con ella: she portrays a ballet student, in a coma), and Bad Education (La mala educación), and in the French movie Paris Je t’aime, among many others. But she is also a great singer, a sort of blueswoman who took hints from Tom Waits (Suzie Marlango is a character in a song of Waits’) with jazz/rockish influences. She is great when singing to piano tunes, and this is one reason why I love her songs. Her Marlango is a trio that includes Alejandro Pelayo (piano) and Oscar Ybarra (trumpet), and they just released “Automatic Imperfection”.
I love her performance and the thin, clean piano motive of her Hold me tight; it is addictive. On Youtube, there is also a “Hold me tight-Live at Alicia’s” worth enjoying (Alicia is the name of the other woman character from Talk to her, also in a coma…)
Their site is www.marlango.net. There, a lot of photos may be seen, as well as videos.