Lavender Diamond...

Honestly I don't usually go in for the more baroque, esoteric sounds. I don't know what it is but high pitched voiced female singers put me off, there I said it. It must be some odd bias I picked up when I was growing up on a cherry orchard just south of Kennebunkport. Joanna Newsome? I didn't get it. I tried, but I didn't get it. Karen Carpenter? I got. So maybe that explains why I kinda dig Lavender Diamond. They're so retro at times that the music becomes forward thinking. The sound of AM pop radio has been invoked in regards to Lavender Diamond and I do hear some of those orchestrated moments of traditional songwriting. But the key component of the band is front woman Becky Stark and her ethereal voice. My initial reaction was very resistant but after listening a few times I was charmed by Stark's stories, her sense of melody and the superb interplay of the band. The instruments never seem to be competing with Stark's voice but instead hold it up, cradle it, make it a bed and tuck it in. And the band is first rate echoing everything from British psych folk to pop to elements of tin pan alley. Give these two songs a couple of listens if it doesn't grab you the first time.

2 songs from the self released The Cavalry Of Light:

You Broke My Heart

Rise In The Springtime. Great crescendo/finish on this one.