A Thousand Shark’s Teeth

US release date: June 17, 2008
International release date: June 2, 2008
Photo by Matt Wignall
Art by David Stith

Available at Asthmatic Kitty / iTunes /  Amazon.

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