My Brightest Diamond shines with lively album

By Alexis Malapitan

Shara Worden, singer and songwriter for My Brightest Diamond, takes listeners on a colorful and vivid journey with each carefully orchestrated song in her album, “This Is My Hand.”

The former Sufjan Stevens backup vocalist carefully crafted her fourth album, which releases today, by incorporating eccentric sounds into her music, throwing in opera, cabaret and art pop.

While Worden is known for her mixture of unique sounds and opera-like tone, she strongly embraces art pop culture, making “This Is My Hand” an incredibly diverse album.

The record starts off with a buildup through a quick, march-like drum set part. “Pressure” blends into a jazzy, cabaret, R&B song. It grows more intense with each beat, adding whimsical and colorful imagery to its lyricism as Worden sings in angelic fashion, “Pink, purple, green, red, yellow, blue. I am in that mood indigo. Pink, purple, green, red, yellow, blue. I am in that mood, for diamonds.”

The song continues to stay on a mellow, tranquil path until Worden demands, “Disperse the white light.”

Sharp tones of trumpets and other horns gradually accompany the fifth track, “I am not the Bad Guy,” and add flavor to her angelic opera voice.

Each song is built carefully with pops, waves and flows of instrumentation and genres that go along with Worden’s melodic vocals. It’s almost as if the instruments and vivid lyrics were choreographed to give listeners visuals to each track.

In “Shape,” Worden compares herself to changing shapes with layers of synths, color and crisp harmonies. In turn, she creates a celestial atmosphere as the captivating song progresses.

“Lover Killer” adapts the sounds and art of dance-pop, giving it a toe-tapping vibe. “Lover Killer” contains a vibrant climax with the singer roaring, “I am a lover and a killer.”

“This Is My Hand’s” lyrics have a playful yet firm tone. The calculated beats and poetic imagery intertwine to leave it up to the listener to detect the meaning of each well-produced song.