my brightest diamond @ nice n' sleazy, 9/18/07

as much as i love bringing you guys the finest concert footage my camera can take, i decided on a different tack for tuesday's my brightest diamond show. i've been feeling a little trapped behind the lens, a little too consumed by getting the best possible pictures and not concentrating enough on the performance. so, since i'd been looking forward to a full set from my brightest diamond since march and i knew exactly how good it was going to be, i decided to leave my camera at home and let nothing get between me and the show. so, even though this review might be lacking a bit visually, i had a great time (and, honestly, the space didn't allow for much in the way of exciting photography anyway).

after my big hate-on of glasgow's abc, i was thrilled to not be going there for this show, and, luckily, nice n' sleazy turned out to not be that sleazy at all (just a little cramped). the show was in the basement, little more than a bar with a stage at the other end of the room, and the medium-sized crowd was able to just sit at the tables and take in the magic. blessed with clearly the best soundman in all of scotland (first time i haven't needed earplugs at a gig on this continent!), nice n' sleazy might just be the best venue in glasgow.

fresh from a set at the end of the road festival in dorset, shara worden (a.k.a. my brightest diamond) had gotten a new set of bandmates for her european tour, though they are traveling without a consistent support act. therefore, it was up to the promoter to tip an opening act, and they picked glaswegian singer/songwriter ross clark. the gig poster proudly heralded him as "bright eyes trapped in buddy holly's body," not the best way to curry mr. mammoth's favor (he doesn't like bright eyes, no sir). fortunately, we didn't see the poster until after the show, so i was able to digest clark's tunes without prejudice.

a clever performer, clark alternated between furious, violent strumming and delicate picking, retreating from the mic or venturing into the crowd, more engaging than many singer/songwriters dare to be. he does look like buddy holly, with bushy hair and black plastic frames, the ends of strings protruding dangerously from the head of his guitar, but neither he nor bright eyes are clark's closest musical comrade. the name that first came to my mind when clark began to sing was eef barzelay, the thin-voiced apocalyptic frontman of clem snide. while clark's voice is less nasal and deeper, both barzelay (who hails from nashville) and the glaswegian have an audible drawl that makes any hearer listen a little closer, intrigued from the first without being able to recognize why. clark ambled through a selection of songs from his debut ep anthems in clams, enjoying his turn on stage in front of a friendly crowd (as in, a crowd with lots of his friends in it).

clark's greatest asset is not his songwriting - while more accomplished than most garden variety singer/songwriters, he is no virtuoso - but his lyricism, displaying age and wit that belie his fresh-faced appearance. my knowledge of his song titles extend only to the songs streaming on his myspace and "soul girl," a new song he introduced during the set, so i am unable to really cite the highlights of his performance, but one lyric of his closing song was so good that i had to scribble it down: clark sang "1, 2, 3, 4" acapella and we thought it was just a countoff, until he belted "i declare a thumb war!" at the top of his lungs, reducing the room to involuntary laughter. his phrasing, in particular, is unique, premeditated stream-of-consciousness lyrics that rarely revolved around a chorus. while impressive, his verbosity occasionally made songs drag, especially "anthems in clams," which already stretches past the five minute mark. as a backdrop for his musings, however, his music fit very well indeed. too competent to be raw, yet too honest to sound refined, clark rarely let his guitar take center stage, but when it did, he made sure it was with a flourish.

playing to a hometown crowd of friends, ross clark was at ease and gave a solid set as an opener. though sometimes burdened by his unwieldy verses and lack of choruses, plaintive but never plain, it is obvious that ross clark is not an ordinary singer/songwriter.

my brightest diamond's 2006 debut, bring me the workhorse, was one of my favorite albums of the year, the lines between rock, opera, and classical music blurred till invisible, caressed by shara worden's preternatural vocals and dynamic song structuring. another reason i enjoyed it so much was that it left you wanting; the restraint in worden's voice and arrangements made you ache for more, but by not blowing the proverbial load on the album, my brightest diamond was virtually assured of a expectant live audience, waiting for the volume and exhilaration buried inside bring me the workhorse. i had been waiting months to see my brightest diamond headline, and, on tuesday night, they gave me nearly everything i had hoped for (but, sadly, not "freak out").

the crowd at nice n' sleazy was awfully quiet tuesday night, so much so that worden remarked on it herself. yet neither i nor anyone else felt the need to speak, to break the magic - and magic is exactly what my brightest diamond sounds like. the adjectives we've seen to describe worden's music ("mystical," "ethereal," "dark," "tender," and by far the most common, "operatic") all do her credit, but none can do her sound justice. my brightest diamond is all of these things, but its greatest quality is in worden's ability to cast very real spells over her listeners. as we sat in the half-light, watching worden wail - her voice resonating with a power her small frame disguises - the magic of my brightest diamond finally, truly became physical.

search for "my brightest diamond live" on google or the hype machine, and one thing instantly becomes clear - shara worden loves covers. each of her performances seems to contain at least one cover, yet it never seems to be the same one twice. for the show on tuesday, we heard only one - "it's over" by roy orbison. worden gave the song an uncharacteristically long preamable, a meandering story about how distressing it would be to, in preparation for a country dance with a significant other, have purchased a spiffy tie or dress, only to have said significant other dump you prior to the dance, yet, because of the purchase of additionally said fashionable item, you decide to go to the dance alone, only to hear "it's over" played as soon as you walk in the door - the joke is that "it's over" opening lyrics are "your baby doesn't love you," - though by the time my brightest diamond got the punchline, most of the crowd was so confused that we didn't realize we were supposed to laugh (if you thought my condensed version was hard, trying to figure it out on the fly was much more of a challenge). yet aside from small, between-song blips like that, however, mbd's set was flawless, and, gratifyingly, very relaxed.

my brightest diamond obviously felt at ease, and worden accordingly cracked jokes, had a dance-off with her bassist, and remained unfazed even when one of her strings snapped mid-song. the only thing that gave her pause was the glaswegian language barrier, as an over-appreciative crowd member yelled that he liked the drummer's work in rapeman - an ambitious statement, considering rapeman hasn't been around for nearly twenty years. for worden, however, the claim was lost in translation, and so the heckler's yell was the only real hitch in an otherwise flawless show.

my brightest diamond's set opened with a stunning version of "golden star," one of bring me the workhorse's best songs, and its dark beauty set the tone for the whole show. aside from the cover, "riding horses," a song worden originally recorded as awry, and one new song ("inside a boy"), mbd's set came entirely from their full-length, including a spine-tingling version of "we were sparkling," complete with music box. "disappear" was another set highlight, worden's smoldering voice almost melting with suspense and romance. we heard a gorgeous version of "magic rabbit," my favorite mbd song, so haunting that the hair on the back of my neck stood up. like dorothy boyd, my brightest diamond had us from the moment they walked onstage. after their thunderous conclusion of "workhorse," we remained stunned, by what we had just seen, not knowing whether to clap for an encore or to savor the spell that had just been broken.

while worden has made no formal statement about a new my brightest diamond album, it seems clear that there will be one from all the new songs they have played over the past several months. they are midway through a european tour that concludes on october 5, and are starting a north american one in november. i will certainly be seeing them again on nov. 17 in new york - i wouldn't miss it for the world.

listen to a session with shara worden on mpr's the current here.

my brightest diamond - "workhorse." buy bring me the workhorse here.

the decemberists, my brightest diamond @ avalon, 3/24/07

with all the success the decemberists have enjoyed lately (like being npr's album of the year...a much better way to attract aging fans), it's great to see them still playing medium sized clubs. though the avalon is pretty shitty, with a much-too-narrow stage (it's more of a nightclub, less of a proper rock venue), colin and co. threw their backs into it and put on a great show for the sold-out house. this was my third time seeing them, though my first post-crane wife, so i was somewhat prepared for their antics, though they still managed to impress.

this show had special significance for me because my sister (who took all the pictures) and mother came up from new york for it. i took a weekend off and caught the train down from maine, and we all met up for the show, our first as a family (and their first with the decemberists). my mom receives a lot of music through osmosis the way my sister and i crank up the volume when we're home, and the decemberists had worked their way into her heart (or, at the very least, their damn-catchy melodies were rolling around in her head). in any event, we scored some extra tickets off the ever-reliable craigslist and reserved a room for the night.

my brightest diamond opened, an act i was looking forward to more than the decemberists. i had heard her stunning bring me the workhorse, released last summer, but had always gotten the impression that she was holding something back, that her majestic wails and octave jumps were reserved. i was hoping that her live show would be more satisfying, and, damn, was it.

shara worden, a.k.a. my brightest diamond, used to (still does?) sing in sufjan's illinoisemakers, but you would never have guessed it in her outfit that night. a far cry from cheerleading outfits and pigtails, worden and the other diamonds set the fashion tone for the night in their head-to-toe white outfits (the decemberists all wore white seersuckers). her hair was much longer than when i had seen the illinoisemakers last summer, which gave her a much more serious look. her set was disappointingly short--the all-ages crowd was there for the decemberists and not for worden, despite meloy's well-known love for workhorse as one of his favorite albums of 2006. they played the expected "golden star" and "magic rabbit," two of their best songs, and ended with an energized "freak out," really punky and spazzy. they also played led zeppelin's "no quarter," which, sadly, received the most applause because no one knew her other songs. such a shame. she's one of my favorite new artists, and i'd love to see her in her own right...i bet she'd kick serious ass.

i've posted "magic rabbit" below, from her daytrotter session...better than on workhorse and free free free. because it's recorded live, worden really lets her voice out, justifying the "operatic" tag that m.b.d.'s been given. go download the rest of the daytrotter set, then go buy bring me the workhorse. it's available from asthmatic kitty in both CD and LP versions.

the decemberists always try and include a little bit of over-dramatized ham in their shows, and this was no exception, featuring an at-least 20 foot tall backdrop of "twilight in the forbidden forest," the name of this tour (i wish i could've seen "rout of the patagons," though...it's a way cooler title). colin's girlfriend, the source of despair for indie ladies the world over, was responsible for it, and it didn't disappoint. and neither did they.

i'd wager few people were surprised when they opened with the ubiquitous "crane wife 3," given their wont to open shows with leadoff tracks (they used "the infanta" every other time i saw them) and that song's recent popularity (i.e., it was in scrubs). colin came onstage alone with his twelve-string and serenaded us until the rest of the decemberoos joined him for the climax. they went straight into "july, july!" (as always, a fan favorite), which got everyone warmed up and excited. "the soldiering life" was a bit of a wrench, throwing a lot of the young crowd off track (damn all-ages crowds), but pre-crane wife fans happily sang along. "the infanta" was satisfying, as usual, though "the bachelor and the bride" is too much like "soldiering" for my taste...i would've preferred a nice version of "youth and beauty brigade," to be honest.

for "yankee bayonet," colin invited shara worden back on stage to sing the pertinent parts, a far cry from laura veirs's studio backing vocals. worden fleshed out the song nicely, bringing it even greater depth and beauty. the decemberists offered a treat next, a song cut from the crane wife, called "culling of the fold." i had heard rumors of this track from no place in particular, a b-side merely because jenny had deemed it too violent for the album itself. after the show, i had the devil's own time finding a copy of it online, but, in the end, was successful, and i've posted it below for your pleasure. in his introduction, colin joked about jenny's sensitivity before launching into the first lyric: cut him up, boy / you gotta cut him up, boy. between pretending to hang himself with the mic cord and singing with a person in the front row who knew the song, colin pranced about on stage, unfettered by his guitar, and enjoying himself wholeheartedly.

after "culling," the 'rists returned to standard fare with "on the bus mall," followed by "the legionnaire's lament." the latter is one of my favorite decemberists songs, though i have heard it at every show of theirs i've seen. they followed with the expected "o valencia," keeping the energy level high after "lament," and segued right into "the island." i had been anticipating "the island;" i think it's probably the decemberists' most versatile work to date (not counting, of course, the tain), and i was excited to see them do it live. well, their performance put even my hopes to shame. after thrilling us all with the pirate melodies of "the landlord's daughter," everyone except colin put down their instruments and grouped together by jenny's piano, picking up different instruments for "you'll not feel the drowning." jenny moved to the harpsichord, john took piano, nate played cello, and mr. funk gently played the violin, bringing the set to an elegant and, really, a special end. except the set wasn't over yet. after acknowledging the well-deserved applause for the "drowning"'s rearrangement, the decemberists retook their positions and treated the audience to a great rendition of "when the war came." i was surprised (and glad) that "island" wasn't the end of the set...i didn't get a copy of the set list, so i can't say whether it was planned or impulsive, but the crowd had good energy the whole show, and they definitely responded to that.

i think we got a double encore (not coming on stage twice, but two songs) primarily because of the audience's enthusiasm. someone had been calling out for "eli the barrow boy" all night, and colin, jenny, and chris funk came on alone to satisfy this request. i don't think i'd seen "eli" before this show, and it was cool to see funk play the hurdy-gurdy. but "eli" isn't a favorite, and i was more excited for "the mariner's revenge song," the encore staple that it is. and what a great way to end the show it is. adding a new dimension to their impressive live repertoire, the decemberists decided to forgo funk's shark impersonation for, well, a real-er one.


all in all, the gig was great. it was even better seeing it with mi famiglia, and we got to hang out with the decemberists in the street after the show. we waited around to get some things signed and say hey and thanks for the show, and they all came out and we chatted with all of them in turn, which was probably the best part of the whole night. so many performers don't mingle after shows, so it was especially great that they did. i've posted the a video my sister shot of the decemberists singing "hang the dj," a little response to the avalon's penchant for scheduling dance parties while the main artist is still playing. my favorite part of the decemberists's live shows is their demeanor--they're so relaxed and comfortable, and willing to play and improvise and connect with their audience--it's a great atmosphere. i'm also posting my brightest diamond "magic rabbit" from her daytrotter session and the "culling of the fold" for your enjoyment. both bands rock and deserve your support, so go out and spend some money on them.




my brightest diamond - "magic rabbit"

the decemberists - "culling of the fold"

more gig pictures below: