Brightest Young Things

Shara Worden is a busy, busy (renaissance) lady. Best known as part of Sufjan’s Illinoisemakers brethren she makes her own magic with My Brightest Diamond and her sophisticated mix of opera, gospel and rock is about to make her huge in her own right. She is playing IOTA this Friday (catch her at such an awesome and intimate venue while you can) and so we sat down to talk to her about shame, God and catfights with Lavender Diamond. Or not.

BYT:Hi Shara, how are you? How has the touring been treating you lately?
Shara Worden:Hello! I am well thank you. I am about halfway through our tour and it’s been a lot of fun. I get to hear and see Tim Fite everyday and I don’t know if life gets better than that.

BYT: This year "Tear it Down" came out, and it is a much more gentle record than the "Bring me the Workhorse." How did you end up with these "bookends," and is there something new you're now itching to try?
SW:I had produced “Bring me the Workhorse” myself, and felt interested in hearing how some electronically minded folks would deal with the songs, how that would affect the feelings in the lyrics, and how taking the songs out of a rock context would alter the impression of the material. I feel quite musically affected by that project, though in some ways it was not successful as an album. I see myself smoothing out some of the dramatic dynamics for this next record and I think it’s partially a result of my experience with “Tear It Down.”

I read somewhere you were quite the globe trotting lady, running off to Moscow after college etc... how was that?
SW:I have lived in 9 different states, moving around when I was a kid and I think that affected me a lot, feeling that I could adapt most anywhere. I went to college in Texas and knew I didn’t want to live there after school. Moscow came up and I didn’t bat a lash at the thought of leaving. Moscow now seems like preparation for moving to New York City . It made the idea of living in Brooklyn seem like a breeze.

BYT: I grew up in Eastern Europe, it makes ANYTHING seem like a breeze. Now, there are some rumors (actually, all my rumors I read on Pitchfork) that while there you recorded a record "you wish never to resurface". Why? Was it that bad?
SW:There was a record that I finished just before I went Russia . I made a record in Russia too, then made two more records as Awry, the first years I lived in New York . One of those, “Quiet B Sides”, I still like, but the other records, I hear so much in them that pains me. Musically, I was really so deep in the opera world and it shows in a way that I don’t like. I had so much angst, wrestling with myself, my voice, with what had happened to me, and the music feels so effortful. I was also really steeped in a Christian culture, not my parents’ culture, but the people I was around, that thought music had to have certain objectives, objectives that I struggled to appropriate. There was social pressure and I felt rejected by a church culture that at that time, I so desperately wanted to be accepted by. I infused a hope in the music that I didn’t feel. I was angry and hurt about a lot of things, yet I felt I had to mask that. I eventually left the religious dialogue. There are some people, artists, pastors, folks, teachers that live in the between spaces of cultures, and I take my hat off to them, but being that kind of bridge is not for me anymore. So all that to say, my old music is a bag of worms to my ears.

BYT: Any other deep dark music secrets you wish no one finds out? Debbie Gibson high school incarnations and the like?
SW:Ah yeah, I did all that, musicals, braces and polyester choir dresses. It is a little funny now, but at the time, the music I was doing meant the world to me, so I have to embrace it as part of my journey. In ten years I am sure I will look at what I am doing now and see it as being really awkward.

BYT: Obviously, you grew around a lot of music, and gospel at that. Tell us a little bit about what growing up into Shara Worden was like?
SW:We moved to a new state every few years when I was a kid, so I had to adapt quickly, be able to assimilate, and learn to identify myself with a new culture. My parents played all kinds of music at home too, so I think those things might have something to do with me taking a really long time to find my musical voice and also struggling with style as much as I have.

BYT: Do you believe in God?
SW:Most of the time.

BYT: That is more often than most. Your music tastes are obviously very eclectic, so we like to do little recommendations for our readers from their favorite artists. Ready?
SW: As ready as I'll ever be

Song you wish you'd written? And the favorite song you wrote yourself?
SW:Strange Fruit is an incredible and horrifying song. For me, perhaps Gone Away is one of my best songs, though not my most favorite one to sing.

Best band(s) we've probably never heard of (yet)? David Stith.
Record that changed your life, and why? Prince’s “Purple Rain”, because it is awesome.
Music to wake up to? Clare and The Reasons new album “The Movie”
Music to fall asleep to? Talk Talk
Music we'd be surprised to learn you like? Justin Timberlake & A-ha? Are you surprised?

BYT: Not really. Because they both ARE AMAZING (cue: Mike pronouncing A-Ha music for retards)

BYT: You are actually classically trained and also taught voice lessons in the past. How much do you feel is that important to a successful music career, that discipline and traditional training focus?
SW:Training is not necessary for success. Billie Holiday never had a vocal lesson, and she was one of the most expressive singers that has ever lived. But for me, lessons and edu cati on have been really important. Technique is a tool for expression.

BYT: Do you ever feel superior to some other artists that are (obviously) less knowledgeable than you? (it is ok to be snobby, you've deserved it, btw)
SW:It’s one thing to be educated about a subject, but knowledge of or ability in music is so relative. It’s not something that one can ever truly master and neither is it competitive. It is infinite. The simplest song can be the most profound. A child’s voice can express the most emotion. A virtuosic cellist is the one who will make you cry, not necessarily the one who has the most technique.

BYT:You toured with the Decemberists earlier this year. Their tour is now canceled. Are you in touch with them? Is everything ok?
SW:I haven’t spoken with them about it actually. Let’s send love.

LOVE:

BYT: Speaking of touring with people, it is impossible to not mention Illinoisemakers when talking with you (sorry). How did you and Sufjan meet?
SW:Sufjan and I had several mutual friends in New York and many years ago now there was a variety show that these folks were putting on and we met that night.

BYT: How does the touring with Sufjan and touring as My Brightest Diamond work out? What takes precedence, if anything?
SW:My Brightest Diamond is where my heart is.

BYT: Sufjan's posse, so to speak, has been churning out some wonderful work lately (namely St. Vincent ...). What is your opinion on some of it?
SW:I love St. Vincent . I think Annie is brilliant and she is a dear friend. The string quartet Osso are also working on something and they are amazing as well. Marla Hansen’s work, Esther Drang, Liz Janes, and Half Handed Cloud are some of the other projects from those folks that are really wonderful.

BYT: You've been touring non-stop lately, what do you do when you do nothing? Where and how is "home"?
SW:I work to eat and pay the rent for my residence in Brooklyn , so yes, I hustle. I do feel a certain lack of energy for thinking about new things for tour and I think it’s because I am a little tired now. That’s how I know I need a rest.. I am hoping to finish the new album in December and rest with my family for the holidays. For nothings, I like riding my bike, spending time with my bunny rabbits, Alice and Pantouf, and watching the same movies over and over.

and
finally (and all importantly)

BYT: In a fight between you and Becky Stark, who'd win?
SW:Becky and I believe in peace and love. I think that might be the Diamond 2008 platform.

BYT: Thank you for this and we look forward to seeing you Friday.
SW:Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!! We are looking forward to the show too. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

catch Shara Live
this Friday
9.30
at IOTA