Imagine she has the voice of an angel and has served an apprenticeship in the Washington DC punk scene. Then add to this haunting piano melodies, luscious strings and a vocal range from chanteuse Becky Stark that hits the highs and massages the lows and you still won't have an idea of quite how good Lavender Diamond are until you've heard them yourself.

As if the patron saint of slightly bonkers art-pop has suddenly decided that it's Christmas and your every birthday ever all the same time, not only are Lavender Diamond currently on tour, but they're currently on tour with The Decemberists. It's truly difficult to imagine a band they'd complement more, or who could be complemented more by them. They're kooky and classical, weaving breathtakingly modern aural fairytales - four of them on The Cavalry of Light EP and more to come on their debut album later this year. Bring 'em on!

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end of year feature musicOMH's 50 Best Albums Of 2009 From the nearly 700 albums we reviewed this year, which did our writers love the most? Introduction 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 20-11 | 10-4 | 1-3