My Brightest Diamond

My Brightest Diamond is the moniker of experimental pop musician Shara Worden.

Shara was raised outside Detroit by a family of musicians (mom was an organist, and dad played accordion) and she studied multiple instruments while growing up. She pursued an Opera degree at University of North Texas, and later studied composition under Padma Newsome (of Clogs and The National). Shara first began attracting attention when she performed in Sufjan Stevens’ backing band, and was an opening act for Sufjan’s Illinoisemaker tour. Her debut album was released not long afterwards.

Discography:

My Brightest Diamond

• Bring Me the Workhorse (2006)
  • Disappear single (2006)
• Tear It Down (2007) 13 different electronic artists remixing tracks from Workhorse.
  • Misfits, Orphans, and Hooligans (2008) A collection of b-sides.
  • Inside a Boy single (2008)
• A Thousand Shark’s Teeth (2008)
  • Shark Demos EP (2008)
  • From the Top of the World single (2008)
• Shark Remixes (individual volumes released digitally 2009; CD box set released 2010)
  • Vol. 1 – Alfred Brown
  • Vol. 2 – Son Lux
  • Vol. 3 – Roberto Lange
  • Vol. 4 – DM Stith
• All Things Will Unwind (2011)
  • Be Brave single (2011)

Other

• Sarah Kirkland Snider: Penelope (2010). Shara Worden and Signal perform the music.
• Clogs: The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton (2010). Shara sings on six tracks.
• Letters to Distant Cities (2011). Shara Worden and Clare Mulduar Manchon read poems by Mustafa Ziyalan.

For individual song collaborations, see the list on Shara’s website.

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My Brightest Diamond provides examples of the following tropes:

• Animated Music Video: “Inside a Boy”.
• Break Up Song: “Gone Away” is the “pining for a lost love” variety of breakup song.
• Chiaroscuro: The cover art for Bring Me the Workhorse.
• Covers Always Lie: The cover of A Thousand Shark’s Teeth is a picture of Shara playing an accordion. Neither Shara nor anyone else plays any accordion on that album.
• Melismatic Vocals: Used often.
• Missing Episode: The biography on her website says that Shara recorded three albums before ever meeting Sufjan Stevens, and that she composed music for off-Broadway productions. Nothing else is known about these scores or recordings.
• Opposites Attract: The point of “We Added It Up”.

What a pair of disagreeable agreeables

• Precision F-Strike: “High Low Middle” has Shara’s only (so far at least) recorded profanity.

Wasting for a buck
and then you're shit and out of luck.

• Protest Song: “There’s a Rat”.
• Rearrange the Song: The two remix collections.