Vocalist Becky Stark begins Lavender Diamond's new
four-track EP by telling you how you broke her heart.
She sounds so pained and convincing, you feel guilty
just listening. Her high-pitched, gospel-like singing
soars to such emotional heights, you know she's a
survivor. With biting strings and tambourine shakes,
"You Broke My Heart" builds and builds on itself,
rising higher and higher, until you're so
emotionally engaged, you're not sure you can take
any more, but you still want more — it's so
beautiful and exhausting, you know it's alive. The
more delicate, sluggish "Please" is equally
heartbreaking but doesn't want to fight. Ballad-ish
piano keys climb around in hopes of soothing, while Stark, the
ever-innocent-sounding church girl, begs:
"Please, please tell me the truth/ I want to hear
it from you/ I want to feel it from you." Built
on a bass drum that sounds like someone is banging on
the front door, "In Heaven There Is No Heat" finds
Stark hitting new heights in little-girl fashion
before the song breaks into a filled-out, jangly
pop-rock tune. The blooming, orchestrated "Rise in
the Springtime" features gorgeous
strings and a message of optimism: "And so we rise into the sun/
The sun!" Stark cries.
Lavender Diamond make pure
childlike sounds that, hipster irony or not, crawl
under your skin like a sweet, old-fashioned crush.
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