This Is My Hand

Recorded in Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit, This Is My Hand is worldly and as musically ambitious as ever. The fourth studio album by My Brightest Diamond (a.k.a. Shara Worden) finds her working on ways to bridge the gap between her avant-garde, experimental, and classical roots with the basic modes of pop music that demand greater simplicity, and she follows her musical ideas to their own credible conclusions. As it’s always been, a catchy melody and a tight rhythm bring the crowds, and a mesmerizing number like “Lover Killer” feels designed to seduce. Tracks like “Pressure” and “I Am Not the Bad Guy” off more complex handling of dynamics and orchestration. (Perfect, say, for an enterprising David Bowie fan.) Employing drums and horns, Worden even explores the dynamics of a high school marching band. What she can do in less than four minutes is breathtaking. The highlight “Looking at the Sun” compresses a variety of approaches (chorally and band-wise), with Worden’s vocals sailing through the notes with a dancer’s poise.