Valentina’s CV makes for captivating reading. Though born and brought up in Mexico, she moved to California in 2003 and here spent time studying under Sarode master Ali Akbar Khan, some time at Berkley Jazz School learning jazz, gospel and voice drumming, and then vocal training at the Tar School for Persian Vocals. The inspiration for La Valentina came after her visit to Seville, learning the emotionally-charged cante jondo singing style. It is this unique collection of influences which make her debut a drowsily inspiring album

The album is sung in a mix of Spanish and English but it is in her natural tongue that Valentina shines, the superb ‘Nina de Mis Ojos’, which features Kinky lead singer Gil Cerezo’s spoken words, builds with layers of her own voice to a seductive climax. The instrumentation remains, throughout, a backdrop to Valentina’s vocals. She relies upon her voice in varying forms, recorded, over dubbed, delayed and looped as it swirls in and out of the tracks. The simple but wonderful Free’s melodic piano line sits untouched under Valentina’s Spanish vocals as she sings “te quiero libre.” ‘Silent Colonialism’ is an album highlight, a simplistically, eerie lament to freedom.

The album draws to a close with the soulful yet haunting ‘I Feel The Love Again’, before closing track ‘One’ reminds us it is not just her training which has influenced Valentina’s vocal style; its Jeff Buckley inspired vocals laying sweetly over found sounds and Bjork-like sampled gasps have played their part too.

La Valentina approaches the voice not merely as the lead but as the basis for the whole album, as an instrument in its own right. On the evidence of her debut solo album, Valentina Gonzalez has emerged, alongside established artists like Cibelle, as a fresh, talented and exciting chanteuse.