Shining Onstage

Speaking from at home in Detroit, Shara Worden, aka My Brightest Diamond, is sweet and generous with her time. The prolific collaborator, writer, performer and singer won't be sat in one place for long, about to pack her bags again to head over here for the Vivid Festival. She was here last for Vivid 2010 as part of the Lou Reed/Laurie Anderson extravaganza, but in 2012 it will be My Brightest Diamond under her own steam.

“It's such an amazing space and I've always really, really enjoyed coming,” she explains. “The plan is to play the new record, All Things Will Unwind, basically as it is on the album. We're hiring some of Australia's best chamber musicians and we'll be rehearsing with them and then just playing through the record.” While there's a bit of long distance prep including scores across email and virtual hook-ups, it seems such is the way of modern collaborative life. “Yeah but that's the way things go, you know? You get it together and work hard during the time you do have, and then you work generously with each other.”

My Brightest Diamond has also hinted at a little feast for the eyes to accompany the live performance of her gorgeous new record. More acoustic than before with an earthy delivery of songs that sound almost folkie at points, All Things Will Unwind is about putting new and old ideas together. “Two things about that: Firstly my music is most often inspired by my relationship with other musicians - it was definitely a result of that. But it was also my reaction against modern recording, which is to make everything sound perfect. And so I wanted to, we really tried to have as many full takes as possible without much editing. We certainly did some editing, but I think for me it was really about exploring the acoustic/electric mediums.

“I think the past record was really pushing the recording side of things, but this time I really just thought 'What the hell' - I surrendered and explored the acoustic side of things, and the next record might be the opposite again. You know, using all instruments that are plugged in, just to see what happens. I think the first two albums were trying to be in the middle, and now I think we'll go the extremes of acoustic, then electric.”

While My Brightest Diamond has been variously compared (in particular the idea of being a lady Bon Iver has been floated), rest assured that the performance will remain distinct. “Well I actually just made a new outfit just this week, though I'm not sure it will look really fun and playful or if I will look like a school teacher who took a cannon ball to her craft closet; I'm not sure what it will look like, but I do have a new outfit,” she laughs. “I'm taking some chances here.”

With a name like My Brightest Diamond, she did perhaps dig her own hole in terms of wanting to attract attention. “I do think there is something about making music that's theatrical. If you wanted to just say something that you thought then you would just say it, but when you use music then I think there's something else at work, something different conveyed with song,” she continues.

The live performance adds a different dimension again, and is one that will never be killed by downloads or crappy online streams. “I went through a stage where I wanted the performance of music to feel like normal life - you know, kind of the grunge or punk movement where it's not out of the ordinary, you don't have to dress up for it. But now I'm really enjoying dressing up and almost putting on a character, making this character to engage with on stage. So I guess right now I've got a heightened reality onstage.”