Lavender Diamond Imagine Our Love CD

Los Angeles's Lavender Diamond, led by singer and songwriter Becky Stark, splits the difference between a feel-good, sun-baked Laurel Canyon vibe and East Coast art-school conceptualism on its debut full-length for Matador, IMAGINE OUR LOVE. Musically, the band blends piano-driven country and folk with a charming indie-pop sensibility that puts to good use a variety of hand claps, foot stomps, and (literally) bells and whistles. They occasionally reach a dramatic apex worthy of the grandiosity of musical theater, an effect that is both disarming and uplifting. Stark's lyrics are the key, though, offering affirmation, beauty, and hope in the face of a decaying world. Although her "I'm OK You're OK" positivity can occasionally feel affected, Stark seems content to let her music flow, whether the world will actually be changed or not. Listeners should approach the record the same way.
On their debut EP, Cavalry of Light, Lavender Diamond proved they have a way with seemingly effortless, timeless-sounding songs. Their first full-length, Imagine Our Love, delivers more of their classic but fresh sound, this time with a bit more polish. As the album title suggests, Imagine Our Love's songs are about looking at love from a distance that is sometimes wistful, sometimes hopeful -- or on occasion, both, as on the opening track, "Oh No," where singer Becky Stark's honeyed voice repeats "when will I love again?" over and over, going from optimistic to despairing and back again. It's a trick the band used on Cavalry of Light's "You Broke My Heart" and it works well here too, giving this song and "Like an Arrow" a hypnotic simplicity. The more fleshed-out sound of Imagine Our Love does justice not only to Stark's immaculate soprano, but to the band's eclectic sound. The lavish strings that grace most of the album are surprisingly versatile, lending extra buoyancy to "Open Your Heart"'s soaring pop and slow-burning drama to the countrified "Garden Rose." Songs such as "My Shadow Is a Monday," "Bring Me a Song," and "Here Comes One" show that while Lavender Diamond's heart belongs to the late-'60s/early-'70s heyday of singer/songwriters, AM pop, and country-pop, the band's homages never feel contrived. They aren't all sweetness and light, either, although "Find a Way" positively radiates hope; on "Side of the Lord," Stark laments, "I don't know if I'm to the left or the right," adding just enough grit to the song's mother-of-pearl luminosity. Gently compelling, Imagine Our Love is a striking debut. ~ Heather PharesEntertainment Weekly (p.69) - "[IMAGINE] sighs and quivers exquisitely, a melodic sunbeam of jangly instrumentation and sweet sentiment."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] genuinely beautiful, beguiling record, recalling The Carpenters and Kate Bush."