Monday Music Review - My Brightest Diamond

I believe music is life. There is rhythm in everything if you look for it just right. I love my broad range of musical tastes and feel it would be beneficial for all if I spread the wealth of my musical knowledge. So! This is my first installment of music reviews. There will be many more to come, so tune in, turn on and drop out.

I tried some kind of file sharing site a long time ago, I came across My Brightest Diamond when using my 10 free downloads and downloaded "Freak Out" but never really listened to it. Recently my computer has been crashing so I have been going through files and burning CD's. I found "Freak Out" randomly and played it and was stunned. The sound was haunting and full of chicky bad assness.

Shara Worden is the voice and sometimes the instrumental sound behind My Brightest Diamond. If you read the bio on the MBD site you'll learn that Shara comes from a very musically talented family who traveled across the country every few years exposing her to many different musical cultures. Her first song was recorded at the age of three and she began to study piano with her uncle at the age of eight. She then moved on to graduate from the University of North Texas with a BA in Vocal Performance.

The music is so classically haunting. It rolls over and over in your mind after listening to it. It is beautifully infectious. If you are like me, when you fall in love with music you'll listen to the CD over and over and over again until you simply have to listen to something else for awhile. I'm personally excited about My Brightest Diamond because there are plenty of other CD's I simply have't even heard yet so when that time comes I can just get more. I have "Bring Me The Workhorse" and I've been listening and learning every note for the past two weeks. I love to sing. LOVE it. I think I adore singers like Fiona Apple, Erykah Badu, and Shara Worden because I can pitch with them and they are so soulful. They sing about things I can really relate to and throw it down with such fierce loveliness. This is SUCH a fun CD to sing to. Sometimes when she adds these little screams to it I can not help but smile or laugh a bit because it is just such fun to do.

Four Favorites:
This all started with "Freak Out" which is actually a bit different from the rest of the CD. It is such a boss song. It starts out with dragging and banging beats that feel dark and slightly morbid. Almost like working the fields on a hot day in stripes and dragging a ball and chain. The song starts with "I think we should jump on the piano - no one's looking - we could tear his heart out.....tear his heart ouuuuuut-a! It's too late to save us now, but no matter we still have time to dance. So LET'S DANCE!" then it suddenly goes into this frenzy of notes almost like an old 60's basement song with her screaming "FREAK OUT!". Oh, man. It's AMAZING.

Something Of An End is the first song on the CD and it is one of my favorites becuase it's like three songs in one. It starts out so lovely and catchy, then goes into a faster paced beauty only to lead you right into an almost lullibye sweetness. It's truly lovely.

Golden Star is another of my favorites. It is a really fun one to sing. It sticks in your head rolling over and over in the most delicate way. Her voice is so captivating and I love that when she sings of celebration you can feel exactly what she means.

"The Good & The Bad Guy" is my fourth favorite (it was really hard to only pick four - this is a CD where all the songs are great for their own reasons.) because I can relate so well to it. I think a lot of us women are guilty of this same thing. I don't know about the rest of you - but my husband can be a real asshole. I'm serious - ask anyone who knows him and he knows it too. But, he's also a really great guy. It just seems easier to bitch about him than it does to talk about how great he is. When I hear this song I think of him and have in a way claimed it as my own. I adore artists who can write songs that speak my own true feelings and thoughts and this one hits it head on. Here are the lyrics:

Sometimes when I tell the story of you
I make you out to be the bad guy
And though it's true
Sometimes you're the bad guy
You're still mine

Sometimes when I paint the picture
It's easier just to remember
The awful things you said
And what you chose to do with legitimate need
You made like a fool
You made like a fool but you're still mine
And I want you
I want you
I do

Why does it hurt more to recall
Your good side, your good side
I always went to you for advice
You were a wise one, a wise one then
When I think about you in that time
It's harder to hate you then

But sometimes I want to hate you as the bad guy
But I want you
I want you the good and the bad guy

So, in conclusion. Listen to My Brightest Diamond, I'm pretty sure you will fall in love. If you don't something might be wrong with you and you just might want to get that checked out.



-j.