In the run-up to the group's European tour with the Decemberists and the pending spring release of their Matador debut, Imagine Our Love, Lavender Diamond's 2005 EP has been re-released. This four-track, 16-minute folk collection is the culmination of several years of singer Becky Stark's collaborations with guitarist Jeff Rosenberg (also of the Young People), pianist Steve Gregoropoulos (W.A.C.O.), and drummer Ron Rege, formerly of the Swirlies. For Stark, who launched her performing career as the star of the touring punk operetta Bird Songs of the Bauharoque, Lavender Diamond provides an arena for the songwriter's post-operetta solo directions.
The Cavalry of Light showcases Stark's impressive range as both a composer and a vocalist. While never straying from a 1960s foundation of guitar, piano, tambourine, and punchy drums, Stark's vocals convey a range of force-- at times an airy, cloyingly sweet modern twist of yesterfolk nostalgia (as on balladic love song "Please") and at others a unharnessed mystical interpretation of oft-recycled folk themes.
"In Heaven There Is No Heat" is this EP's most adventurous moment. Although its structure seems ready-made-- with a kickdrum and 2/2 guitar ditty that give rise to a loud, bright, friendly chorus-- Stark's vocals provide a surprising, coolly lit counterpoint. Her high soprano works playful yet achy magic around her winding lyrical path: "In heaven there is no heat/ In sorrow there is no rhyme." The chorus provides the rumbling, focused security: "Dream the kind of a life that you will find/ The kind of love that lasts forever." There are no transitions or bridges between these two moods, and by way of this contrast, the song succeeds and sticks.
Even better is the epic "You Broke My Heart", a solid march within the EP's close-to-the-hearth recording environment. Here, Stark's vocals resound with the strength of a singer quite apart-- though not stylistically-- from the one who appears elsewhere on the EP. Operatic and mesmerizing, Stark retains her seamless and clear soprano. But the heavy instrumental accompaniment and song's subject provide fuel for boundless one-upmanship. As a standalone track, "You Broke My Heart" announces Stark's virtuosity, but the three tracks following it are a positive reinforcement of the singer's welcome, novel addition to a crowded scene.
