Lavender Diamond

Frankly, I wasn't in a big hurry to get around to listening to Lavender Diamond after hearing the accounts of their opening sets for The Decemberists and front-lady Becky Starks antics. Not in a hurry at all. However, when Matador temporarily posted a track off their upcoming record, "Imagine Our Love", I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did.

If you're looking for a life changing album, this is not for you, but its just a great pop record. Becky has an amazing voice and the instrumentation isn't flashy but its really solid and the album is really well produced. Lyrically, there's probably very little being covered here that hasn't been covered a thousand times over in the last 60 or so years, but the lyrics are carried by Stark's vocals and the pure sense of conviction in her vocals. When she repeats "I'll never lie again" in the track by the same title, you believe her. She obviously has corrected all her geneological imperfections to the point where she is physically incapable of lying ever again. And then, on "Open Your Heart", you almost expect Colin Meloy to jump in on vocals for a while, but Stark carries it out wonderfully.

Despite its imperfection, this is really a great record that is gonna be in my rotation for a while.


From "Imagine Our Love":
Open Your Heart
I'll Never Lie Again

From "The Calvalry of Light EP":
You Broke My Heart
Rise in the Springtime

From Becky Starks' "Artifacts of the Winged":
I Know You Had To

Links:
Official Page
Myspace Page