My Brightest Diamond - An ever more dazzling diamond

Dressed in pink (and wearing pink makeup), Shara Worden (better known as My Brightest Diamond), on a promotional tour in support of her third album, approaches me kindly, introduces herself, and asks me to excuse her because she needs a glass of water. And when she comes back into the room, she has a small bottle of water with her for me. Then she smiles and we start chatting.

The first thing I thought listening to “All Things Will Unwind” was: “This sounds like Prokofiev!”

[Shara smiles] I'm glad to hear that: I love Prokofiev!

I noticed!

“All Things Will Unwind” is an album written specifically for an event you were commissioned to create.

More than a commissioned event, I was offered a concert where I was financially able to call in all the musicians I wanted, and since I was being paid very well, I could also take the time to write new material.

It wasn't originally meant to be a commissioned event, but in the end it was as if it had been.

Was it a concert where you were asked to present new songs?

No, they told me I could play whatever I wanted.

When you play at Lincoln Center you want to make more of an "artistic statement" above all, and since I hadn't written anything in the past three years, I thought it was right to write something new, something more current.

Did it take you a long time to compose it?

Two and a half months.

Considering the complexity of the pieces, that's not very long.

I hadn't written anything in quite a while, so in a way the pieces were already built in my mind, ready to be written down.

Was writing this concert different from writing any other My Brightest Diamond record? Did you feel any extra pressure, internal or external?

The previous albums were mainly the result of studio sessions, songs that had never been played live before.

For "All Things Will Unwind" I had all these musicians [the yMusic Ensemble, a sextet of strings and winds] and I kept wondering how to make the best use of them, but I was also wondering what "shape" I wanted to give the concert. I wanted to keep the "shape" of a live performance as much as possible.

By the time we got to recording the album, I wanted to preserve all of that. Keeping the feeling of a live concert was extremely important.

How, instead, did working with a classical sextet influence the way you wrote the vocal parts?

My priority was to give the songs a lot of air, I wanted them to have a lot of space, a lot of room to play.

Two songs come to mind: “Wild Is The Wind” by Nina Simone and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack. Both of these songs are slow and suspended, and I'd always wanted to write something like that, where it's as if time stands still.

I also think about Ella Fitzgerald, who has such a particular style — explosive, engaging, and “jerky.” I was definitely thinking of her when I wrote “High Low Middle”.

On your previous records you always played a lot, and many different instruments. For this album you deliberately held back.

It ties in with the desire to create “space” for the songs.

yMusic are exceptional musicians, and I wanted their contribution to really come through within the tracks.

Some songs came together from just the beat and the voice, and I didn't want to play anything, so that these compositions could reach my brain, which is the source of imagination.

When I teach people who are new to singing, they often get discouraged by the physical effort involved, and I tell them to trust their brain, to trust what they're able to hear and imagine: whatever sound they can picture, the body will adapt to it. That's why I preferred to limit what my body had to do as an instrumentalist. I wanted to focus more on vocal technique, to be closer to the audience on an emotional level, so I needed that focus not to be broken by the concentration required to play an instrument.

It was also the first time I used a computer. Before, I used to jot down arrangements with pen and paper, whereas now I use a computer, and I've found it to be an easier method for the mind.

I was surprised at how well instruments like acoustic guitar, banjo and ukulele blended with strings and horns.

Actually, it turned out to be very natural. In the past, when I tried to pair these instruments with electric guitar or electric bass, it was definitely harder. Trying to find a way around the limitations those instruments impose was really frustrating.

What kind of show can we expect from the tour?

[Shara laughs] That's the same question I keep asking myself.

Recently there were two weeks where I played with yMusic, then the following week I opened for Sufjian Stevens with a rock band, then I played with the Chicago Youth Orchestra, then I played completely solo. It was like being on a rollercoaster — they were completely different sets from one another.

I imagine we can't hope to see you with yMusic.

I'd love that, but it would really be too expensive.

I've made a choice, and it's to be as flexible as possible, because not every situation we're offered is ideal for us. So I'll adapt to whatever comes my way.

You have an opera training. How do you manage to make opera, classical music and pop interact so well together?

Pop music is more tied to the spoken word. Opera has to be sung without a microphone, and part of the training is precisely about having more nuance and a tone suited to being heard without a microphone.

The technique is completely different.

I still take opera lessons because, covering so many different genres, there are repercussions for the voice. When I sang with the Decemberists I strained myself a lot playing the Queen ["The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing"]. There were some really powerful sounds, with the guitars at full blast, and it was fun to sing that song, but the moment I went back to doing something more classical with Clogs, the Clogs' music seemed to throw me "off balance". I literally had to study how to get back to relating physically to a natural way of singing, without forcing my body into a particular style.

You mentioned some of your countless collaborations. Collaboration is a fundamental aspect of your work for you.

You've also collaborated with several visual artists, including the unsettling Matthew Barney. What kind of experience was that?

In this project I sing and I also have a narrative role. It's a film made up of seven parts, so I think [smiles] it'll be many years before it can be seen.

Shara, what's it like working with Matthew Barney?

At the beginning I was really scared of it.

Matthew is very focused on the art, focused on the ideas and meticulous about the work. He's a thoughtful and very kind person. I saw him treat everyone on set with kindness and thank people for the work they were doing, because what we were doing was really demanding and required so much energy.

Listening especially to your earlier records and reading your lyrics, you get the impression that Shara Worden is a very reflective woman. Then we follow you on Twitter [Shara's lips curl into a smile] and discover just how funny you actually are [Shara bursts out laughing].

How do you respond to those who think the purest art comes from the torments of the soul and from suffering?

[Shara is still laughing] On Twitter I follow ... the Dalai Lama ... [laughs even harder] I admit it: I follow the Dalai Lama on Twitter ... and I notice how much joy he allows himself, and you wonder how that's even possible.

So there's no contradiction between the Shara Worden we read about on Twitter and the core of My Brightest Diamond.

On "All Things Will Unwind" there are lyrics with political and social overtones. You'd never dealt with these themes before.

Before, I'd never felt the need to talk about political subjects, and I never thought I wanted to put myself in a position where I'd be allowed to make pronouncements. Moving [from New York] to Detroit [where Shara was born and raised], I found myself in a neighborhood with some of the poorest people in America, and the more I talked with these people, the more I became aware of injustice and of how privileged I am. I learned and discovered a lot from these conversations, things I would never otherwise have come to know. Once I realized that, I felt the need to talk about this reality.

Before the next question, a little preamble: I found out we're only 16 days apart in age, so we're the same age. That means we were both 12 in the same year, and when I was 12 I was in love with Morten Harket…

[Shara bursts out laughing and takes one of my hands in hers] You should see your eyes! Your whole face has changed, you're lit up!

[We need a moment before we can laugh just a little less and get back to talking]You recently said you'd like to work with him. Has he called you?

No! But something did happen with Pal Waaktaar.

When I was a little girl, my friends and I divided up the A-Ha posters and drew hearts all over them. One of us grabbed Morten, another took Magne, so I was left with Pal.

The funny thing is that a couple of years ago I was looking for new students and Pal's wife contacted me about some lessons. I was so close to going to their studio in New York, so close to meeting Pal! I imagine at some point he must have thought: "This is a crazy obsessive A-Ha fan, what was I thinking inviting her to the studio!" and he cancelled the lesson.

The interview ends like this. With Shara singing "Manhattan Skyline." Sweet up to "Wave goodbye" and then really loud from "You know…" Sublime.

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