The Decemberists March 26, 2007

One of the hottest bands of 2006, The Decemberists have done some amazing work in the world of indie/folk and fusion rock over the years--blending hyper-literate lyrics about Irish folklore, life on the sea, Japanese legends and more with beautifully nuanced instrumentation. My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, granddaughter of an Epiphone-playing traveling evangelist, fathered by a National Accordion Champion, and mothered by a church organist. Shara's songs distil stories to their most distressing points of contact: a phone call, an injured horse, a dragonfly caught in a spider's web. She doesn't share all the information -- just the stuff that matters. The effect is a sensational compression of time, in which an entire event is summarized in a single note. This, of course, is the essence of opera. But My Brightest Diamond is much more than that. There is also the humor one might find in an old TV episode of 'Wonder Woman' or Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland.' Shara's songs reconcile all the complex emotions found in each of us: she can grieve as comfortably as she can laugh, sometimes in the same breath.