Lavender Diamond is a Los Angeles-based folk/country-pop quartet known for its light-hearted, often winsome sound, its simple, romantic lyrics, and the charismatic, whimsical stage presence and ethereal vocals of frontwoman Becky Stark. Formed in 2003, the band signed to Rough Trade Records in Europe and Matador Records in the US in 2006. They released their full-length album "Imagine Our Love" in 2007. The folk delight that is Lavender Diamond originally came to life in Bird Songs of the Bauharoque, a punk operetta inspired by the work of American painter/architect Paul Laffoley. ...show more

Lavender Diamond is a Los Angeles-based folk/country-pop quartet known for its light-hearted, often winsome sound, its simple, romantic lyrics, and the charismatic, whimsical stage presence and ethereal vocals of frontwoman Becky Stark. Formed in 2003, the band signed to Rough Trade Records in Europe and Matador Records in the US in 2006. They released their full-length album "Imagine Our Love" in 2007. The folk delight that is Lavender Diamond originally came to life in Bird Songs of the Bauharoque, a punk operetta inspired by the work of American painter/architect Paul Laffoley.

Vocalist Becky Stark wrote and created the piece with a friend while living in Providence, RI, and starred as Lavender herself, a winsome part bird/part human who wants peace on earth. The indie stage show was such a hit at home that Stark and company went on to tour 56 cities across North America in 2003. Her debut solo effort, the self-produced Artefacts of the Winged album, was made available during this tour, and as Stark continued writing songs, she felt they deserved to be taken more seriously. A move to Los Angeles in 2004 provided Stark with the creative arena she had been searching for; befriending guitarist Jeff Rosenberg (Pink & Brown, Tarentel, the Young People) and forming a country-pop act with him, things started to take shape for Stark.

When she wasn't keeping busy with Rosenberg, she was playing classical arias and Tin Pan Alley originals with classical pianist Steve Gregoropoulos (W.A.C.O.), and making psychedelic doo wop material with drummer Ron Rege, Jr., formerly of the Swirlies. At the end of the day, Stark opted to collect such sounds as one, and gathered her contemporaries for Lavender Diamond in 2004. Matching the airy lightness of Linda Ronstadt and Carole King with Bacharach-like arrangements, Lavender Diamond issued The Cavalry of Light EP in 2005; a second release, a split 7" with Queens of Sheeba for Cold Sweat, also appeared that year. A buzz around the blogosphere and indie mag elite began to take shape by early 2006, and performances at ArthurFest, South by Southwest, and the CMJ New Music Seminar only added fuel to the record label frenzy. ...show less