My Brightest Diamond
Issue #36
A Thousand Shark's Teeth (Asthmatic Kitty)
By Carlye Wisel
Published: August 1st, 2008 | 10:58am
Filled with the same elements that made My Brightest Diamond’s last record so gripping, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth reads more like a sequel rather than a second full-length album. Despite the fact that it’s noticeably less intimate, My Brightest Diamond’s newest release features singer and instrumentalist Shara Worden sticking close to her signature balance of sweeping vocals laid atop expansive instrumentals, giving her the capability of fine-tuning her sound without wholly altering it.
The album begins with “Inside A Boy,” a song that bears a striking resemblance to “Something of an End,” the memorable introductory track of 2006’s Bring Me the Workhorse. With a slow, contained beginning that slowly folds into a rhythmic guitar solo and continues building up to an accented chorus, the two have a similar structure. The first, “If I Were Queen,” is lighthearted and endearing, as Worden’s vocals swim throughout a swirl of interchanging string swells that are marked by breathy bow draws and the sharp echo of soft pizzicato.
The gleeful “Apples” is the largest step outside of the classical box on A Thousand Shark’s Teeth. Surrounded by clanging percussion that forms a cha-cha-like beat, Worden oozes such simple lyrics as “Sometimes on Saturdays when it’s raining / We do laundry / Especially then I like to watch you fold so carefully the clothes,” brightening the dark overtones her work sometimes contains. The song is simply lovely — cutesy, even — and could yield a comparison to Feist, if My Brightest Diamond wasn’t best characterized as a coalescent of Regina Spektor and Andrew Bird.
A Thousand Shark’s Teeth works as an extension of Bring Me the Workhorse, building upon its precedent instead of molding Worden into a reproduced performer. Overall, there tends to be more going on in the background on this record, with detailed sounds and noises filling the crannies of the orchestra’s breadth, but in no way does only a small leap forward indicate that My Brightest Diamond is taking a step back.
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