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This Week's Featured Download

Lavender Diamond
Imagine Our Love
Matador Records
$9.99
Listen & Buy

Originally conceived as an operetta in Providence, Rhode Island, and given life as a quartet once singer-songwriter Becky Stark migrated to Los Angeles, Lavender Diamond caused a minor stir with their debut EP The Cavalry of Light. Aligning Stark with the multifaceted talents of guitarist Jeff Rosenberg (formerly of Young People, Tarentel, and Pink & Brown), drummer and artist Ron Rege, Jr. (late of the Swirlies), and pianist Steve Gregoropoulos (who also does time with W.A.C.O.), Lavender Diamond deftly explores classic baroque pop, shimmering country-touched ballads, and late-'60s/early-'70s AM gold with equal aplomb, pinning sunny harmonies and textures to beguiling instrumentals. Loping along through our modern cosmos, Lavender Diamond pulled off an exceedingly rare feat with their four song debut, taking easily recognizable influences into the current day while sounding every bit as joyous and airy as those styles undoubtedly did oh so long ago.

With a new home on New York's stalwart Matador label, Imagine Our Love is Lavender Diamond's much-anticipated debut long-player. Brighter sounding and more carefully crafted than previous efforts, the twelve songs gathered herein give Stark and her cohorts room to breathe. Just as comfortable galloping over the relentlessly optimistic "Open Your Heart," with its thumping backbeat, chiming keys, and exultant handclaps, as she is meditating on the country glide that is "My Shadow Is a Monday," Stark and her lithe voice run the show here with gracious ease. The endless Linda Ronstadt comparisons that get tossed her way are surprisingly accurate, though her pipes just as easily call to mind folks like Emmylou Harris and Evie Sands as well. But even in the presence of such a remarkably singular vocal talent, the band holds their own, be it in the full head of steam they craft on "Here Comes One" or the sly groove of "Like An Arrow," in the process painting Lavender Diamond almost like a less debauched version of Fleetwood Mac. It's indeed a rare event when such a hotly tipped record actually exceeds the expectations set for it, but with Imagine Our Love, Lavender Diamond has done just that, creating an album's worth of near-timeless pop that would have been as comfortable on the airwaves 35 years ago as it could be three-and-half decades from now.

- Michael Crumsho