Review by Heather Phares
On their debut EP Calvalry 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 at the same time, 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 Calvalry 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 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.
Lavender Diamond
Imagine Our Love
[Matador; 2007]
Rating: 6.0
There are plenty of reasons to write off Lavender Diamond as intolerably precious: their bandname, their showtune-like arrangements and vocals, or frontwoman Becky Stark's billowy pink dresses that make comparisons to Princess Toadstool just slightly too easy. To date, the band's most excessive gestures have been their most successful. The recently re-released Cavalry of Light EP reaches its apex with its opening track: "You Broke My Heart" is a bulletproof wide-eyed stomper that embraces the band's potentially cloying approach with gusto.
Until now, Lavender Diamond had struck me as a band willing to plunge unreservedly into its own aesthetic world-- to embrace theatrical bombast without stopping to look over its shoulder. But with the release of their debut album, there's already some speculation as to whether Stark's fruity delivery can be chalked up to genuine eccentricity or art-school put-on. Of course, any kind of wink-and-nod assurances that Lavender Diamond are "in" on their own shtick would have destroyed their mystique. And similarly, any attempts to temper their sound with rote signifiers of sincerity would have stripped them of the persuasive charm that made their EP so promising.
Miraculously, Lavender Diamond manage to evade both of these traps on Imagine Our Love. But there's a potentially bigger problem: Rather than developing or disavowing their penchant for glittery spectacle, they play it just a little bit too safe throughout, delivering a record with few glaring flaws but just as few highlights.
"You Broke My Heart" finds its near-equal in "Open Your Heart", bringing to mind what "Downtown" might sound like had it originally been performed by Julie Andrews instead of Petula Clark. The melody and flow of "Here Comes One" has a "Sesame Street Theme"-like irresistibility . "Like an Arrow" is less melodic and more meditative, but manages to cultivate a mood without falling back on sheer ambiance. But there isn't much else of note beyond these few moments. Stripped-down, bluesier numbers like "Side of the Lord" and "Garden Rose" offer a welcome respite from the record's usual pageantry, but the subtlety and repetition that enhance Lavender Diamond's best songs also doom these weaker ones. Most of the hooks on Imagine Our Love appear within the first 30 seconds of their respective songs, and when that initial idea needs work, as is often the case, its gradual development and expansion doesn't exactly make for an enthralling listen.
Given the amount of attention Lavender Diamond has received lately, it's easy to forget that this is their debut album. Though "You Broke My Heart" made for an incredibly solid and self-assured first step, Imagine Our Love finds the band not quite sure how to deliver on their strengths. Which, for all the hype and expectation, is hardly the worst that could happen.
-Matt LeMay, May 07, 2007
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