Pitchfork

New York-based My Brightest Diamond-- the stage name for singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden-- is best known for her classical touches and moody ambience, so I never expect her to have a crack rhythm section behind her. But damned if the drums and bass don't propel "Inside a Boy" into full-on Queenly pomp and bombast. The song opens her upcoming third album, A Thousand Shark's Teeth, which was originally conceived as a collaboration with a string quartet, but Worden has wisely opened up that concept to include a full band. About 45 seconds into the soft, shimmery intro, the bass enters, hurtling the song through the universe Worden finds inside her boy. The high-hat slices at her Freddy Mercurial vocals as "Inside a Boy" builds dramatically, alternating between florid verses ("We are stars colliding/ We crash like lightning") and thunderous instrumental interstitials. The song's urgency is as studious as it is theatrically sexual, a product of Worden's swirl of space-rock atmosphere, chamber-pop eccentricities, and heavy metal rumble.

MP3:> My Brightest Diamond: "Inside a Boy"
[from A Thousand Shark's Teeth; due 06/17/08 on Asthmatic Kitty]