A Diamond in the Rough: Talking to Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond

While on hand at Eaux Claires music festival, our reporter Julia Olson caught up with Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. Check it out!

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KXSU: It’s great to talk to you, Shara! Tell us about your inspiration for collaborating with So Percussion at Eaux Claires, and your piece, “Timeline,” that you created with them.

SW: I’ve been a fan of So Percussion for a while. I first saw them at a festival in England and I just loved their set so much. I’ve never seen anything like them or that piece, so I really wanted to collaborate with them. We met at that festival because So Percussion knows Bryce and Aaron Dessner, who I’ve been friends with for a long time. After we were introduced, we said, “Hey, lets make something.” They had a piece written for them called, “Before it is Time,” and we wanted to program the song with our collaboration. So I thought, “We are working with a percussion group and all they think about is time,” but I wanted to take it less from a math orientation and more from a body, birth, death, and breath movement: dance. A lot of the texts are based on those themes, birth and death.

KXSU: After watching both of your sets at Eaux Claires, I wanted to ask about how you are inspired by dance. Was dance something you’ve always been incorporating into your sets?

SW: No, I was raised a repressed Christian. I am a pastor’s daughter and a granddaughter of a pastor, an evangelist. I grew up in a church and I was not allowed to go to dances. When I started playing in bands I didn’t like any attention from dance, I wanted to be respected for my mind. I very much did not move. It was only in the last three years that I started dancing again. I’ve always loved to dance – I’ve always been a dancer – but I think I reached a point where I don’t have to prove that I’m smart, I don’t have to prove all this stuff, and now I don’t care. I just do whatever I want.

KXSU: From our perspective, the dance very much highlights the lyrics.

SW: Yeah, because I think there is so much going on, I want the movement to help with the understanding of the words more. From the movement, I want you to understand the meaning.

KXSU: What can we expect next from you next?

SW: I am working on a new record for My Brightest Diamond. We premiered some of the songs yesterday; hopefully that will be out in 2017. I am addicted to drums. I wanted to collaborate more voice and beats into the more pop sound of My Brightest Diamond.

KXSU: Any other projects you are excited to see at Eaux Claires?

SW: There are so many, I can’t be at all of them.

KXSU: Yeah, it’s definitely a little overwhelming!

SW: It’s so many of my friends, it feels like summer camp. yMusic played with me during my set yesterday. It’s been a really collaborative experience. I am writing an opera and James McVinnie, who is playing organ, is going to be in it. I’m super excited to see the Day of the Dead show. I’m excited to see Shabazz Palaces, and then Lucius and yMusic are playing together; it’s too much.

Keep up with My Brightest Diamond: FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | WEBSITE


JULIA OLSON | There’s too much art here | Head Reporter

 

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