New albums: Lavender Diamond, Great Northern

[I am severely lagging when it comes to reviews. Here's a taste of what's been filling my ears:]

Top shelf

Lavender Diamond, "Imagine Our Love" (Matador, May 8): You have to be pretty cynical to dislike Becky Stark, who might be as close as we've got to a real-live flower child in 2007. Or maybe she just channels hippiedom so effectively that her musical persona is some form of performance art. Whatever, it works. Her voice -- comparisons to Karen Carpenter and other long-ago pop heroines are appropriate -- teeters between innocence and enlightenment, the siren of a cherub whose directness cuts through all our coarseness and rationalizations. Backed ably by guitarist Jeff Rosenberg, keyboardist Steve Gregoropoulos and drummer Ron Rege, Jr., Stark calls upon us to open our hearts, embrace nature, be honest, have hope and, well, darn it, just love. 

||| Hear "Open Your Heart" from the album and "You Broke My Heart" from the "Cavalry of Light" EP here. See Lavender Diamond perform a free in-store at 7 tonight at Amoeba Music.

Great Northern, "Trading Twilight for Daylight" (Eenie Meenie, May 15): The brushstrokes are pretty fine on the long-awaited debut from this Silver Lake quartet -- carefully layered guitars, keyboards and strings, entwined boy-girl vocals from Solon Bixler and Rachel Stolte and bold rhythms from drummer Davey Latter and bassist Ashley Dzerigian all adding up to a melancholic majesty that makes you wonder what on earth has them so bummed out. It's pretty, though artfully constructed, and pretty easy to lose yourself in its sweep and swells.      

||| Download "The Middle." See Great Northern perform Tuesday at the Echo (free).

Also recommended

Maximo Park, "Our Earthly Pleasures" (Warp, May 8): Like their first album and its single "Apply Some pressure," the latest batch of catchy, angular pop from this English quintet seems to be in a big hurry to get somewhere. Like my CD player.

Patrick Wolf, "The Magic Position" (Low Altitude, May 1): The third album from this 24-year-old Londoner is never boring, a wild ride of fractured pop with kitchen-sink instrumentation in seemingly ADD-addled arrangements.

Midnight Movies, "Lion the Girl" (New Line, April 24): It's all about atmospherics on the Los Angeles band's second album, and first as a quartet. Gena Olivier's soaring vocals fold into her mates' shadowy psychedelia, recalling a droney Curve. 

Sea Wolf, "Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low" EP (Dangerbird, May 8): Gorgeous folk-pop and storytelling from L.A.'s Alex Church -- autumn seems too long a wait for his full-length debut.