Lavender Diamond: Imagine Our Love

Imagine Our Love sounds virtually nothing like the freak folk or '70s floppy-hat wicker-couch sunroom-in-afternoon rock that usually gets mentioned when people talk about Lavender Diamond. The album actually sounds no older than the mid-'80s (Cocteau Twins, Concrete Blonde), and it takes a big cue from the haunting, minimal niceties of the sadly forgotten Movietone. Lead singer Becky Stark calls the shots with a commanding coo that usually dominates the backing players, who fall a little short of their sum (a former member of Swirlies and a current member of Young People), though they do stir up a bizarre stomp on "Like An Arrow" and manage to concoct two absolutely perfect pop songs in "Open Your Heart" and "When You Wake for Certain."