|
Word & Images by: Eric Zimmermann
My Brightest Diamond :: 05.24.08 :: The Independent :: San Francisco, CA
Shara Worden (or My Brightest Diamond to most) stood on stage in fishnet stockings and a white eyelet dress with a black feather in her hair. With her sharp cheekbones and a steely gaze that pierced through the artificial smoke, she looked impenetrable but graceful. Pardon the blatant pun, but the metaphor fits: she shone like a bright diamond.
My Brightest Diamond's first LP, 2006's Bring Me The Workhorse, is simply haunting. Worden's opera-trained voice narrates dark tales of death and longing over mournful strings and minor-key guitar chords. "You've gone away, where there isn't a telephone wire/ Still I wait by the phone/ You don't even write to say goodbye," she croons in "Gone Away." It's not for nothing that she garners frequent comparisons to fellow multi-instrumentalist St. Vincent. With that in mind, I walked into The Independent prepared for an aesthetically rich but perhaps cold and anti-social performance. That's not what I got.
Worden was self-assured and unrelenting. Leaping into the air and dueling with her backup guitarist, Worden was as warm as one can possibly be when singing about dragonflies caught in spider webs. On more than one occasion, she broke into a slightly cheesy but entertaining shimmy reminiscent of the funky chicken. Yet, despite her fervency, Worden was remarkably composed. Relying on the texture and intonation of her voice as much as raw volume, Worden alternated between the syncopated sing-speak of "Freak Out" and the soprano aria of "Gone Away." The rare moments when she let loose a piercing but beautiful moan – "freak out!" she screamed in the song of the same title – reinforced just how in control of her voice she was during the quieter moments. She wielded her pipes cautiously. When you have the skills and training Worden does, you should not drown out the nuance by blaring the volume.
My Brightest Diamond :: 05.24.08
If Worden has a comfort zone, she cast it aside. Sending her backup guitarist and drummer offstage for a few songs, she transitioned from a slow, mournful solo sung entirely in French to a soulful, off-beat rendition of Prince's "When Doves Cry," drawing chuckles and appreciative applause from the unsuspecting audience. Then came the completely unexpected: a carefree cover of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Something," beatbox and all. "Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa," she chanted with attitude, hands in the air and hips swaying.
Worden's own compositions have a strange air of surrealism and childlike fantasy. In "Freak Out," the narrator rampages through a seemingly haunted house, stomping on the piano and tearing its heart out. "It's too late to save us now/ but no matter, we've still got time to dance/ So let's dance!" she shrieked, as beaming stage lights cast alternating greens, oranges and blues across the stage.
Despite the urgency of the band's performance, the show maintained an air of asocial distance. Mostly due to the seated format, the audience remained strict observers rather than participants. This was a shame, since My Brightest Diamond dispelled any preconceptions that they are merely self-conscious aesthetes. Perhaps because of instrumentation differences, most of the songs sounded grittier, louder and more attitudinal than the album versions, which are characterized more by classical precision than reckless abandon. Her performance of "Inside a Boy," the title track from her recent EP, was so amplified as to sound positively rock-like.
And so, the show was satisfying but haunted by possibilities of what could have been. Had the audience not obeyed the suggestions of The Independent to sit quietly, My Brightest Diamond might have completely cut loose, breaking all the "chamber-pop" genre stereotypes of meek, well-behaved reflection. In spite of these missed opportunities, the audience was treated to a nevertheless fun-loving act who appreciated both aesthetic beauty and the need to occasionally let one's hair down – even if just a little.
JamBase | Bay Area
Go See Live Music!
|
