Accessibility links
My Brightest Diamond My Brightest Diamond artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

My Brightest Diamond

New Music Friday For Nov. 23: 6 Albums You Should Hear Now

My Brightest Diamond's A Million And One is on our short list of the best new albums out on Nov. 23. Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

New Music Friday For Nov. 23: 6 Albums You Should Hear Now

This week's essential new releases includes the warped and wild pop sounds of My Brightest Diamond, a stunning instrumental record from Ed Harcourt, punk with heart and humor from Art Brut and more.

New Music Friday For Nov. 23: 6 Albums You Should Hear Now

Listen · 23:12
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/670004354/670352258" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
In The Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Teens Speak Up By Singing Out

The Brooklyn Youth Chorus performs Silent Voices, a multi-composer work that addresses social concerns articulated by the young singers themselves. Julienne Schaer/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Julienne Schaer/Courtesy of the artist

Deceptive Cadence

In The Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Teens Speak Up By Singing Out

The group is celebrating its 25th anniversary by commissioning new pieces of contemporary classical music — and pushing the composers who write for the ensemble to broaden their own points of view.

In The Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Teens Speak Up By Singing Out

Listen · 5:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/527831520/527990648" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Song Of A Haunted Childhood

Sarah Kirkland Snider's song cycle Unremembered comes out Sept. 4. Willy Somma/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Willy Somma/Courtesy of the artist

Review

Deceptive Cadence

Song Of A Haunted Childhood

"The Witch," from composer Sarah Kirkland Snider's new album Unremembered, inspires childlike fear. Hear singer Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond spin out a tale of terror.

08The Witch

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/425360991/425362618" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

  • Buy Featured Music

    Song
    The Witch
    Album
    Unremembered
    Artist
    Sarah Kirkland Snider/Padma Newsome/DM Stith
    Label
    New Amsterdam
    Released
    2015

    Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

First Listen: My Brightest Diamond, 'This Is My Hand'

My Brightest Diamond's new album, This Is My Hand, comes out Sept. 16. Bernd Preiml/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Bernd Preiml/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: My Brightest Diamond, 'This Is My Hand'

Shara Worden's music sounds both micro-orchestrated and entirely, ecstatically spontaneous. Every song here is a mission statement and a directive; each is propulsive and demanding of full attention.

This Is My Hand

Audio for First Listens is no longer available after the album is released.
Premieres From Jenny Lewis, My Brightest Diamond, More

Clockwise from upper left: Jenny Lewis, My Brightest Diamond, Elephant Stone, Shinedoe. Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artists

All Songs Considered

Premieres From Jenny Lewis, My Brightest Diamond, More

The latest episode of All Songs Considered features music that reflects on the passage of time, including incredible songs from singers Jenny Lewis and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden.

New Mix: Premieres From Jenny Lewis, My Brightest Diamond, Elephant Stone, More

Listen · 47:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/318225225/318261176" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Studio Sessions

My Brightest Diamond Sings with Strings

WNYC Radio

In college, Shara Worden studied opera during the day and sang in funk bands at night. As the leader of My Brightest Diamond, she has synthesized the best of her classical training and pop inclinations. Hear the band play songs from its forthcoming album.

Listen Now

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/89473666/89467684" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music

My Brightest Diamond: A Polished 'Workhorse'

Singer Shara Worden of the group My Brightest Diamond comes to pop music from a background in opera and performance art. She also serves as a back-up vocalist to the iconoclastic singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. The result, says critic Jim Fusilli, is alluring and adventurous, as in the new Bring Me the Workhorse.

My Brightest Diamond: A Polished 'Workhorse'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6241936/6241937" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
My Brightest Diamond: Home Is Where The Art Is

My Brightest Diamond is the indie-pop project of classically trained singer and composer Shara Worden. Danny Renshaw/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Danny Renshaw/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

My Brightest Diamond: Home Is Where The Art Is

Singer and songwriter Shara Worden studied opera and classical composition before starting the band, but her musical roots go back much further — to her upbringing in a family of evangelists outside Detroit.

My Brightest Diamond: Home Is Where The Art Is

Listen · 9:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142244101/142275455" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Live in Concert

'Dark Was The Night' From Radio City Music Hall

In a year of great music, the Dark Was the Night compilation ranks near the top. Now comes Dark Was the Night: The Concert, a truly mammoth undertaking. Members of The National curated the May 3 event to benefit AIDS research with performances by David Byrne, The Dirty Projectors, Feist, Bon Iver, Sharon Jones and My Brightest Diamond.

Dark Was the Night in Concert 5/3/09

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/104655046/104625901" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Woman Of Constant Sorrow: Sarah Kirkland Snider's 'Penelope'
New Amsterdam records

Review

Deceptive Cadence

Woman Of Constant Sorrow: Sarah Kirkland Snider's 'Penelope'

A new song cycle based on Homer's Odyssey and featuring vocalist Shara Worden, deftly weaves pop, jazz, and classical. Hear a sneak preview of the album before its Oct. 26 release date.

The first of the cycle's 14 songs, "The Stranger with the Face of a Man I loved." Vocalist Shara Worden, with Signal, conducted by Brad Lubman.

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/130405381/130405537" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

All Songs Considered

Bob Dylan, Geoff Reacher, My Brightest Diamond

All new music from folk legend Bob Dylan; Woody Guthrie covered by The Klezmatics; Country electronica from Geoff Reacher; Music for balloons from Judy Dunaway and more.

Bob Dylan, Geoff Reacher, My Brightest Diamond

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/15961234/15961237" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse archive or search npr.org