Me and the crew I roll with

No music is made in isolation and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to some of the folks (that you may or may not have heard of) that I think exist in the same universe as My Brightest Diamond and who have contributed greatly to my musical life. There are many more friends I will tell you about, but for this post, I’ve picked the following folks because we’ve all been spit out, jumped out or are still half way involved with the classical world. We live (or used to live) in Brooklyn. We do yoga together. We run into each other on the N train. We meet in Prospect Park to go kite flying. We are in the same book clubs. We play on each other’s records. If it seems like I am gushing, well I am. Without these friends whom I admire, who inspire and support me, I would have much less happiness and be scowling a lot more. So I thought I should throw an online wine and cheese party and introduce some of my peeps to my other peeps. Would you like merlot or chardonnay?

Osso
Osso my darlings Osso! How I do love thee. I mean, just look at their faces! Can’t you see it all in this photo? Rob Moose, the tousled and talented violinist who has the best shoe collection in the world. Maria Bella Jeffers, the cellist, who can never have enough green in her outfit and who is constantly wondering which cello she should bring to a gig- rock cello or classical cello? That choice exemplifies the torment we each find ourselves in every day. Marla Hansen, the violist- The quiet one who plays not only viola at her shoulder but also in her lap whilst playing her own songs. Don’t be fooled however, for she has more sass than a bottle of sassafras. And oh dear, who is that hooligan who snuck into this picture??? Could that be the famous Frenchy Olivier Manchon? Is he villian or violinist? Ah it is Manchon the mischievious, Michael McDonald’s best impersonator and the Muldaur married mirthful one. The lovely Osso were recently signed to Asthmatic Kitty and are recording an album of string quartet interpretations of Sufjan Stevens’ electronic album “Enjoy Your Rabbit”. Osso played on both MBD albums and if truth be told, meeting them made me find a new band name.
Year of the Boar: download

DM Stith
Every drawing you’ve seen, every Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton duet that has come out of My Brightest Diamond is brought to you by the lovely and talented DM Stith. The first time I heard David hum I begged him to sing on my album. The first time I saw him draw I gave him $5 and asked him if I could keep the drawing. Actually the last part is a lie, but I do have one his drawings currently posted on my refrigerator. Anyway, he’s draws really really amazing subconscious abstract scribbles as well as excellent long legged skinny horses and he just became my label mate (woo hoo!) and has his record coming out soon. Osso plays on it too!

Be My Baby: download
Thanksgiving Moon: download

Sebastian Krueger of Inlets
Oh my gosh Sebastian Krueger is such a dork. Actually no I’m kidding, he’s not a dork. I adore him. I cannot get enough of Sebastian’s bad attitude. (Sebs, you think just because you played banjo with Feist on SNL that you are too cool for everybody else. Well, you might be, but don’t have to talk bad about my studio, okay? That kind of hurt my feelings.) Sebastian has played clarinet and bass clarinet with My Brightest Diamond on virtually every track on “A Thousand Shark’s Teeth”, as well as the new hot b-side jam I Had A Pearl. He also played guitar at many of the live shows. I know you knew that already but what you probably DIDN’T know was that Sebastian is a lovely songwriter and arranger and has a band called Inlets.
Your Good Arm: download

Clare & The Reasons
One of The Reasons is Clare’s strange and scruffy husband, named Olivier Manchon. (He’s the one with his mouth open. Extra hors d’oeuvre for you if you remembered that Olivier plays violin in the string quartet Osso.) Now Olivier is perhaps the Frenchiest French person you may ever run across in your travels. He always carries brie, a bagette and a bottle of Bordeaux under his coat. He is a good one to have around when your french pronuciation needs to be corrected. Actually, I’m just kidding, he’s not so strange. He is scruffy, but he wears it well. His wife is the exact opposite of scruffy. Classy, elegant, chic- Clare is like a movie star out of the 1950’s. Her voice is like a mix of Billy Holiday, Nina Persson and June Carter Cash. The string and vocal harmony arrangements on their album “The Movie” fall somewhere between Prokofiev, Walt Disney scores, Sesame Street and Dr. Who. This is perfect music for the mornings. They make me feel sorry for the (heh h’em) “planet” Pluto, make me miss my waitressing days (?!?!) and make me remember falling in love.

Pluto: download

Marla Hansen
I had known Marla as a viola player for many moons and then one day, she invited Murat Eyuboglu and me over for a cheese and wine fest. We sat on the deck which overlooked a garden full of New York weed trees and indulged. After a while, Marla gathered her courage and said that she had written some songs and asked if we wanted to hear them. Of course we did!!! So we went inside where the living room furniture was all white. The light was shining in from the glass deck doors. I sat on the couch and Marla pulled up a kitchen chair and sat in the middle of room. Then she began playing the viola in her lap, singing in the softest voice I had ever heard. Her voice was so pure that it felt like hearing glass, like hearing something that no one else in the world had ever heard, like a bird singing for the first time. There was nothing about her singing in that moment that pushed to be heard, that fought for space, that demanded anything. It was elegant and pure. It made my eyes brim over with tears. So many moons later Miss Marla put out an EP, “Wedding Day”, which also features the finely coiffed Sebastian Krueger, the lively Mr. Nathan Lithgow (who also plays bass in the MBD rock trio) and me on some background la-la-la vocals.
Wedding Day: download

Clogs
I was touring about the midwest in a green Saturn with my band Awry. The backseat was packed with items we’d picked up from thrift stores- casios, a trombone, a Schoenhut toy piano, air organs, in addition to a trunk full of guitars, a P.A. system, sleeping bags and luggage. I was scrunched in the backseat while the boys in the front were listening to A Perfect Circle at full blast. While I love A Perfect Circle, I was in a different mood and for two months, smashed my headphones into my ears and listened to Pierre Boulez’s Pli selon Pli on repeat. When we finally got home, I was determined to learn how to arrange for strings and I started searching the internet. I found a friend of mine from school, Steve Wilder who had moved on to Yale and sang a piece by composer Padma Newsome called These Walls Thy Heaven. I wrote Padma scared as a country mouse and asked him to teach me. He graciously did. This began our friendship and collaborations which will include a few songs on the upcoming Clogs album. Rachael Elliot played bassoon and Thom Kozumplik played marimba on “A Thousand Shark’s Teeth” too. At one time I was having trouble with my wrist and I called up guitarist Bryce Dessner for his advice. He is the guitar guru. My wrist stopped hurting then.
Im very sad: download
Pencil stick: download
Whos down now: download

Jon Rodgers
I met Jon at the Sidewalk Cafe one night, a million years ago. We were both trying to play the open mic night there one lonely Monday, ordering the cheapest drinks on the menu, and waiting until 2 a.m. for our numbers to be called. Finally I played for a thin audience and afterwards Jon and I struck up a conversation, realizing that we both had a love for Jeff Buckley’s music. We became friends and he later played bass in my old band, Awry. Jon moved back to New Haven and I started studying with Padma Newsome who lived in New Haven, so when I went up for lessons, Jon and I would meet in the park and talk about music. Jon ended up studying some with Padma too. I was inspired by Jon and wrote the song Bass Player (on “A Thousand Shark’s Teeth”) sort of about him. Jon has been working on arrangements for his new record, “The Aviary”, for at least the same amount of time that I’ve been working on “Shark’s”, so it feels like cousins being born at the same time.

All Wrapped in White: download

Gabriel Kahane
Mr. Gabriel drinks better coffee, wears better sweaters, better shoes and reads more books than I do. We both like Joseph Mitchell’s stories and we both adore the opera Peter Grimes. We both hoolah hoop with Rob Moose (from Osso) as well as drummer James McAlister and Swiss army knife instrumentalist Casey Foubert from the Sufjan crew. We had our records mixed by Husky Huskolds. We both come from the classical world, but I think Gabe has kept his golashes more squarely in both puddles than me. We met one night when we were playing at the now defunct music venue Tonic (God rest it’s soul) and became fast friends. In a musical family tree, I think Jon Rodgers and Gabriel might be second cousins once removed or something.
Underberg: download

Drawings on the airplane barf bag

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I made these drawings on the barf bag of the Iberia flight from Barcelona to New York today. I had an upset stomach but I did not employ the intended use of the bag.

Photo by Oscar Garcia
More Primavera pics by Alterna2
The show for Primavera Sound in Barcelona was really really fun though we were jet lagged like dogs in space. The last time we had played in Spain the power went out in the middle of our set. This time, however, no power cords were cut by rebellious falling cymbals and we played our little hearts out and met some beautiful people. The night also featured DM Stith (the mystery ghostly voice on the MBD albums, otherwise known as my own Kenny Rogers) who gave a debut performance of the songs from his in-progress album. I was grounded to my feet and felt like my spine was coming through my stomach while he sang.

Photo by Otter Freak

Before Spain, MBD went to the west coast, playing loads of new songs from A Thousand Shark’s Teeth as well as Prince covers which you will never hear on YouTube. We played at the Hotel Cafe in LA with the amazing and attitudinal and atmospheric wonder, Pedestrian, featuring Joel Shearer (who did most of the engineering for Bring Me The Workhorse & big muff pedalled it up on “Inside A Boy”) and the bearded god Zac Rae (who graces both MBD records as well) on keyboards and screeching noises. I sang with them and simultaneously scoped out their new pedal boards. They rock my face and have a new album coming out which I shall tell you about soon. Pedestrian has been known to deal harshly with criminals.

If you wanna check out what Nate has to say about me making him wear suspenders and a bow tie on this tour, check his blog. He doesn’t hold back. I keep telling him that he can make some side money in that outfit as a valet or cocktail waiter or something. Please someone, comment on hot he looks in the velvet bow tie. That will really help me out in a lot of ways.

Oops! Mamie Minch is on Tuesd…

Oops! Mamie Minch is on Tuesday the 27th, not Wednesday. I’m in Barcelona and got confused with time traveling.

Mamie Minch- the woman with th…

Mamie Minch- the woman with the sexiest, lowest voice in the world is playing Union Hall at 10pm on wednesday!! Cd release! Go!

My cab driver to the airport h…

My cab driver to the airport had dyed hair & glasses. He gave me a bubble gum lollipop & reminded me to be grateful.

Welcome Welcome!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to the new site! We are still working out The Kinks but feel free to snoop around and listen and look and comment. I’ve uploaded lots of new pics of the making of Shark’s Teeth in the photo section so you can catch the studio vibe. Since we started recording for it in 2004, you can see how everyone’s hair has changed over the last four years. Also, new music for you to listen to in the fancy new mp3 player! I’ve put up some exclusive-ish stuff, live from the 2007 Music Now festival, the Osso string quartet version of “Youkali”, and a new song “The Gentlest Gentleman” that I’ve been playing a lot live recently.

Don’t forget that if you pre-order A Thousand Shark’s Teeth you’ll get the demos for free! Also check out the single Inside A Boy that features the b-side “I Had A Pearl”, along with remixes by Tim Fite and Son Lux!

listening to Dory Previn.

listening to Dory Previn. The photographer Raphael Neal made compilation 4 me & it’s so good!

Tim Fite’s Fair ain’t Fair!

Tim Fite’s new album, Fair Ain’t Fair, is now available and it’s faaaantastic! Yours truly sang a little jang-a-lang background animal vocals. You can get it here.

So far my fav tracks are “Line by Line” and “More Clothes”. Tim always makes me remember things I’ve forgotten. He’s like Mother Theresa, One eyed Sam, a front porch band, Jesus and a shoot ‘em up all wrapped into one. He has a blue coat with pale pink buttons. He doesn’t stop drawing. He prints. He waxes. He remixes. He sews. His myspace is easy.

A Thousand Shark’s Teeth

US release date: June 17, 2008
International release date: June 2, 2008

Charming, playful, daring, foreboding, graceful, eclectic, exciting and visceral: these are all the first words that come to mind after a full listen through A Thousand Shark’s Teeth. It is a record that evokes and challenges, full of the sorts of melodies and arrangements that stay with you long after the album’s stopped playing. Combining songs that were written both before and after the release of Bring Me the Workhorse, and produced and arranged by Shara herself, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth reflects different times, feelings, musical genres and facets of one’s personality, all perfectly sewn together by the powerful thread that is Shara’s dynamic voice.

Originally meant to be a more classical, string quartet affair, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth slowly evolved and refined itself over a period of six years. The record, which was mixed by Husky Höskulds (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), was recorded in Berlin, Los Angeles and New York City, and features twenty different players all contributing little bits of musical magic. Influenced by artists such as Tricky, French composer Maurice Ravel and Tom Waits, in addition to the star exploration themes of Anslem Kiefer’s paintings, the imaginary landscapes of photographer Robert ParkeHarrison, films by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Alice in Wonderland, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth is a musical snowglobe that sparkles each time you touch it. The songs, whose themes broach intimacy, kisses by moonlight, laundry, lost friendship and more, marry vast instrumentation - marimbas, harps, clarinets, French horns, rabid guitars, vibraphones to name a few - to create an unequaled amalgamation of style and color. In simple terms: it’s beautiful, and there’s nothing else quite like it.

Opener and first single “Inside A Boy” is classic Diamond - slippery guitars meet with gorgeous strings and Shara’s powerhouse voice, which folds nicely into “Ice and the Storm,” a driving foot-stomp of a tune full of swirling vocals, metallic crackles and a stuttering beat. “Black and Costaud” borrows lyrics from a Ravel opera and sees Diamond full of dramatic flourish, while “From the Top of the World” vibrates with soulful swagger, showing off Shara’s tremendous guitar playing. “Apples” is Diamond at her most coy, her vocal line delivered with quite a flirtatious smile, “Like a Sieve” twists a Tricky sample upside down, and “Goodbye Forever” swells with a string-heavy chorus as Shara sings of things lost in a fire, literally and figuratively, exploring both beauty and danger in a shark’s kiss.

The tracklisting:

1. Inside A Boy
2. Ice and the Storm
3. If I Were Queen
4. Apples
5. From the Top of the World
6. Black and Costaud
7. To Pluto’s Moon
8. Bass Player
9. Goodbye Forever
10. Like a Sieve
11. The Diamond

Lyrics:

INSIDE A BOY

inside a boy i found a universe
and in his eyes are a thousand stars on a dark sky
we are clouds we are whispers like fauns and shapeshifters
our edges can never be found out
our edges keep moving further out

we are stars colliding
now we crash like lightening into love

in his arms im unwinding
under his kiss i am falling into love

we are stars colliding
now we crash like lightening into love

THE ICE AND THE STORM

open up your heart to me
darling you’re resisting this bliss
you’ve been dreaming only of it

it’s just like ice building up inside
darling we’ve accumulated too much miscommunication
in a beginning everything is soft not defensive
perhaps we begin again shyly
i wanna love you loosely
so nothing is stopping me from receiving from giving out

i want a storm to blow it out
i want to shake myself and turn my heart inside out

open up your heart to me now
darling you’re resisting this bliss
you’ve been dreaming only of it

i want a storm to blow it out
i want to shake myself and turn my heart inside out

don’t you want to let it go

IF I WERE QUEEN

if i were queen then you and i’d be neighbors
i’d pick you up each morning for doughnuts and tea
ah close by
ah close by

if i were queen then you and i’d be neighbors
we’d collect things and we could argue where to put them
ah close by
ah close by

APPLES

sometimes in the springtime
i like to see the apple blossoms with you
sometimes in the winter
i like to see the snow falling with you

once we took apples from my grandfather’s tree
but i had nowhere to plant the seed
so we baked them with sugar and we ate them

sometimes on saturdays when it’s raining we do laundry
especially then i like to watch you fold so carefully the clothes
especially then i like to watch you move your fingers slow

FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD

at the end of the sea there waits my wind to carry me
through storms we will sail just to gaze at the top of the world

from the bottom of the world we looked up and saw the moon
and gazing at it then we fell in love

so we made up our minds to arrive smiling yes
we made up our minds to touch the height of life
and find out what we felt for it
how we felt for it

from the top of the world we looked up and saw the sun
and gazing at it then we fell in love

BLACK AND COSTAUD

black and costaud black and chic
jolly fellow jolly fellow black
i punch sir
i boxe you

black and costaud black and chic black black black
black and thick and vrai beau gosse
i punch your nose
i knock you out you stupid chose
i punch your nose
i marm’lad you you stupid chose stupid chose

avec ma voix je marm’lad toi
je marm’lad toi

oh black and costaud
oh i punch your nose
oh black and costaud
oh stupid chose

TO PLUTO’S MOON

how i tried to catch you while you ran ahead of me
i lassoed mars to see if you were hiding there
but you’d already ran past jupiter to pluto’s moon
and my rope won’t reach that moon

this is a state of electrical shock
you were so beautiful i thought you’d last forever
but you came and you went when the lights went out
you went like you came
in a light’ning bolt

why did you go like this
i slam against the wall
it’s crushing my skull
why did you go like this
i slam against the wall of permanence

and like a ghost i am spinning
in circles the dance of pluto’s moon

BASS PLAYER

bass player all alone
makes a sound most wouldn’t call a symphony
as he plays thinks of maid sad and shuffling

she sings blow me a kiss before i drown in sorrow
blow me a kiss before i drown

he saw her by the moon
dress in hand her hips were swayin’
melancholy tune broken buckles tired lips

she was singing
blow me a kiss before i drown in sorrow
blow me a kiss before i drown in laundry

she said i want to be with the stars tonight so i can fly above the laundry

GOODBYE FOREVER

oh to lose by fire by flame this old feeling
insignificance

then i can hear you brighter than the stars
your voice is a razor blade
i can see you shining through the sun
you’re so mysterious

lose the hold as i throw this with a goodbye forever
fear of exposure

then i can hear you brighter than the stars
your touch is light’ning
i can feel you prickling like a thousand shark teeth
prickling like a thousand shark teeth closer to me

come closer to me
come closer to me
come closer to me
come closer to me still

LIKE A SIEVE

i rest my head on water
i slip under

i descend into the deep
past the rushes, past the shipwrecks
into my tears i float

and like a sieve i’m catching leaves and sticks
i’m catching planks and fishes
so it washes through me clean
i’m run clean through
ah!

THE DIAMOND

you are the brightest diamond
i can see you shining for miles and miles and miles and miles
everybody here’s wearing long faces but you

and mary wants to hold your face and kiss you for her birthday
are you coming?
i can see you shining
i can see you shining

you are the brightest diamond hidden in my pocket
oh how glorious you must feel splendid
you must feel splendid

but you have spit out beauty like an idiot
why did you chew up shinies with a paper shredder

you are the brightest diamond hidden on my wrist
you are now untouchable
now untouchable
now untouchable

reaching through the space between your universe and mine a warm light shines
and will until all breath and sigh expend

expend

expend

Shark Demos

A pre-order for A Thousand Shark’s Teeth is now up at Secretly Canadian, featuring a bonus EP for anyone who orders the album this way. This bonus EP is a fully realized collection of alternate versions of A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, in addition to one album outtake. Orchestrated and complex, yet spacious and direct, these versions are a rewarding listen for the opportunity to hear how the songs have grown into their final form. Link to PREORDER.
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Tracklisting for A Thousand Shark’s Teeth Bonus EP:

1. Apples (alternate version)
2. Bass Player (alternate version)
3. To Pluto’s Moon (alternate version)
4. If I Were Queen (alternate version)
5. The Diamond (alternate version)
6. Music Box (outtake)

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