The Day Of Diamonds

New York - 8/20/06

Yesterday BrooklynVegan posted an interview I did with Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond whose amazing record Bring Me The Workhorse came out yesterday.

See below for part of the interview and go here to read the full interview. I took the photos above and below the day of the interview. See more photos from the same shoot here on my flickr page.

Shara's vocals can also be heard all over Sufjan's Illinois album, and she's an integral part of his touring band. Her CD release party will be held at the Spiegeltent in NYC this Thursday August 24th at 10pm, and she kicks of a U.S. tour with Sufjan on September 11th.


Wes: One of the first times I saw you perform was at Cross-Pollination with Dave Deporis almost a year and a half ago. Now you are releasing your first record as My Brightest Diamond called Bring Me The Workhorse. From that show to this record your sound has become somewhat less ethereal and your song structure seems more focused. What caused that evolution?

Shara: That's interesting that you say that. Someone just wrote to me about how they felt that when the song "Dragonfly" (watch video here) first started it was more ethereal and ambient. I think a lot of that has to do with the choices I made for Bring Me The Workhorse arrangement wise. I was trying to a. make a cohesive work and b. not be too noodly. Something that was not precious. I think that I am writing songs that still have that eccentric and ethereal quality to them, but there is a different format for those songs.

The next record, A Thousand Shark's Teeth, will be a string album and more ethereal, less rock. That's a distinction I had to make because I basically had two records. I was trying to make them work together, but they just didn't like each other. So I thought: This is me trying to cram in too many ideas for one album. Let me just make something cohesive and separate these two records.

Wes: Was it a natural move for the record to be released on Asthmatic Kitty after working with Sufjan?

Shara: Yes. Sufjan has been telling me for a couple of years that he wanted to support me in any way that he could. I was hesitant at first because I didn't know them and how they were as a label.

Wes: Does this predate you playing and recording with Sufjan?

Shara: Yes it does. But then I was able to tour with him and meet the people at the label, see over the course of time how they do things and what their intentions were with me and I felt really comfortable with them.

Wes: Do any of your fellow Illinoise Makers appear on the album?

My Brightest Diamond - Shara WordenShara: No, in fact the string players I played with before ended up working on Sufjan's Illinois and now they'll go on tour with the both of us. So it's all a blend now without ownership or anything like that.

Wes: You mentioned A Thousand Shark's Teeth, your next album. Do you have any recording or release plans for that one already?

Shara: The string parts for that record were recorded two weeks before I recorded the current album. I just finished the lead vocals of five of the tunes last week and there will be more recording in the winter. The release will not happen until late summer of 2007. Before that we're doing a remix record of the current album this winter.

Wes: Who will be doing the remixes?
...full interview here.


Download of the Day
My Brightest Diamond - Something Of An End (MP3)
My Brightest Diamond - Riding Horses (MP3)
Sufjan Stevens - The Henney Buggy Band (MP3)