In today's edition of
"5 Favorite Things," that recurring feature where we check in with bands en route to New York and ask what five things are helping them cope with life on the road,
Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark renews her trademark winsome charm, concentrating on earthy elements rather than comforts from home. We bet she's really good at yoga too. The L.A.-based quartet's second proper album,
Incorruptible Heart, comes from a similar place, waltzing through a field of country, folk and pop, surrendering to whatever emotion is at hand—weather it be melancholy ("Just Passing By") or hope ("There's Perfect Love for Me"). Listening to it
here is the equivalent of a spiritual cleanse.
Once referred to by the Times as a "North American songbird," Stark leads the band to Glasslands on Saturday night (for those who missed them at Mercury Lounge yesterday), while birds fly above her head and squirrels play at her feet.
