My Brightest Diamond : Schubas; Fri 7

Theatricality lies at the heart of My Brightest Diamond, the musical alias of Shara Worden. The Brooklyn resident has an extensive opera background, and it’s not hard to detect her formal training in her chamber-pop prowess. Both in its brooding worldview and melodramatic tone, Worden’s somber spin is a far leap from the ironic cheerleading of Sufjan Stevens’s Illinoisemakers, where she previously made indie rock’s acquaintance.

Her sophomore LP, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth (released on Stevens’s Asthmatic Kitty label), doesn’t diverge greatly from the melancholic musings of 2006’s Bring Me the Workhorse—no surprise, since her latest disc includes material written at the same time as its predecessor. Yet Teeth more strongly emphasizes string arrangements, initially intended as her only accompaniment.

A dynamic performer, equally capable of powerful belting and fragile restraint, Worden recalls a number of British singers, including Kate Bush, PJ Harvey and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Still, on cuts like “Apple,” featuring swooping strings set against a plucked mbira thumb-piano pattern, the new album sees Worden coming into her own. Few have ever sounded so sexy singing about laundry: Quavering yet assured, she intones, “Especially then I like to watch you fold so carefully the clothes / Especially then I like to watch you move your fingers slow.”

Wielding an electric-blue guitar while dressed in regal attire with her hair in lopsided buns, Worden cuts a stark figure. It’s a compelling juxtaposition of punk and fantasy that’s utterly powerful. She revels in performing like an aspiring diva. Fittingly, there’s more than a little pretension in her delicate demeanor, but Worden’s captivating persona and sincerity urge you to step inside her whimsical world.