When Lavender Diamond put out a flawless album of honest songs about peace and love, an unbelieving nation tried to figure out if they were playing some kind of po-mo trick—but there was no trick. (This is what happens when Ed Sanders is not taught in public schools—a degeneration of problem-solving skills.) Lavender Diamond is just Lavender Diamond: beautiful songs about the truest things, delivered gently and genuinely in a way that recalls as much a morning in church (where Stark’s grandmother was a spiritualist minister) as a night at the campfire (where songs from the Anthology of American Folk Music would be sung). The band behind her (preternatural pianist Steve Gregoropoulos and drummer Ron Rege) are like a set of wings, and if they all play together in a room with high enough ceilings, some strong person will surely cry. Like Houdini was heard to say: “Believe.”
Wed., Nov. 5, 8 p.m., 2008
