Over to the Haldern Pop Festival for a set by My Brightest Diamond from August 25, 2014.
My Brightest Diamond is the project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shara Nova. The band has released five studio albums and a remix album, five studio EPs and four remix EPs, and made several tours across the United States.
Nova began performing and recording music while she was a student at the University of North Texas, in Denton, Texas. She released an album, entitled Word in 1998, under the name Shara. Following her completion of a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Vocal Performance, Nova moved to Moscow, Russia, where she documented several newly written songs and released them on CD-R’s as an album entitled Session I, which included hand-made artwork. In 1999, she moved to Brooklyn, New York City, writing music that blended elements of her classical training with chamber music, and avant-garde rock music she discovered in the underground rock scene, at venues such at Tonic, The Living Room, and the Knitting Factory. She began performing and recording under the moniker AwRy, and gathered the support of a group of musicians, who played a variety of non-traditional instruments including wine glasses and wind chimes. Eventually, Nova and the group added a string quartet after studying and collaborating with the Australian composer Padma Newsome. She released an eponymous album in 2001, which was mostly a reworking of songs from the album Word, and is often referred to as The Orange Album; Quiet B-Sides, as well as a remix album in 2003.
This year, Shara has appeared in the stage show of Illinoise as a musical performer, singing and playing guitar in the musical based on Sufjan Stevens’ album of the same name, on which she originally appeared. Nova’s recent collaboration as co-composer and featured vocalist with the string orchestra A Far Cry on Nonesuch / New Amsterdam Records’ The Blue Hour garnered critical acclaim, receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Classical Album and securing a spot on NPR’s esteemed Top 10 Albums of 2022. The single “Black Sheep” was released in summer 2023 ahead of a fall tour with Wilco, and My Brightest Diamond just released Fight The Real Terror.
Needless to say, for a glimpse of My Brightest Diamond from 2014, press Play and dive in.
