All Things Will Unwind by My Brightest Diamond
LABEL: Asthmatic Kitty

Shara Worden, a.k.a. My Brightest Diamond, is an old pro on the art pop scene. A veteran of both Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoisemakers and a collaborator with acts like The National and yMusic collective, Worden has has previously released three LPs under the My Brightest Diamond moniker. Her latest effort, All Things Will Unwind, is a confection of pop artfully prepared, full of rich instrumentation and some stunning vocals.

Beginning on a light folky note, album opener “We Added It Up” is a charming and playful tune, complete with a call and response consisting of “Love binds the world.”  Differentiating herself from typical Feist-ian singer-songwriter style, Worden fills her songs with orchestration from whimsical flute trills to bouyant horns and strings.




Luckily for Worden (and listeners) she’s no one-trick pony. If the LP was made up of solely light and flighty pop, it would be easy to dismiss. But Worden, who has a degree in classical vocal training, has different shades to reveal. On the eerily tribal duet “Everything Is In Line,” Worden and guest vocalist/label-mate, DM Stith, coolly and calmly play off one another. It is difficult to discern the narrative (whether it’s two children speaking to each other or two lovers), but the tension present on the song is undeniable and riveting. This moody avant-pop is where the album truly soars, as it does on single “Be Brave” a fervent and determined number that escalates Worden’s vocals from whispered, cryptic monologue (“I am a bird on water/ A whale on sand”) to a belted shattering climax. On a magnificently paced track, Worden knows when to pull back from the piccolo sounds and pair just her vocals with a sparse drum line and when to surround herself in full orchestral regalia, complete with horns, strings, guitars, flutes and backing vocals.

That being said, some of the drawbacks of the album are when Worden does not have quite as tight a rein on her backing. In “Ding Dang,” a comic book style folk song full of words like “Snap,” blam,” and “kalamazoo!” the combination of a strange melody, whimpering, strained violins, militaristic flutes, and overly grand drum roll is far too much to process. On the other end of the spectrum, simplistic pseudo-political jingles like “There’s A Rat” are to serious for their own good. Let’s be honest, in today’s post-ironic pop-scape, who’s going to take the lyric “There’s a rat in the kitchen and he’s eaten my cheese” seriously?

Still for all her overboard twee-ness, Shara Worden’s album is largely successful, especially on the ode to her newborn son “I Have Never Loved Someone.” A warm and soft chanson-style lullaby, the song shows that for all the overt theatricality in some of her songs, Worden has a genuineness that combines with genuinely stunning talent.


REVIEWED BY JENNIFER MILLS
JEN’S FAVE TRACKS: “Be Brave” • “We Added It Up” • “Everything Is In Line”

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