Review in Retrospect: My Brightest Diamond's All Things Will Unwind 8.5/10

Received with mixed reviews, Shara's All Things Will Unwind was conceived as either too cerebral or a fine portrait of delicate chamber pop. However, no one really declared this album to be superb. Well, I'm going to help Shara Nova (formerly Shara Worden) out with that void. My take? All Things Will Unwind is a near-immaculate effort that offers playful wind arrangements with lyrical innocence: a childlike simplicity conceived with pristine musical elegance. There! How about that, Ms. Nova? I've shattered through the barrier critics burdened onto this album. Now what about you, reader? What else can I say?

Beginning with a close-mic acoustic guitar, the playful attitude of the album is immediately present. "There was you there was me / We never could agree / If I was up you were down / You were there I was here / A grand puppeteer stuck it all together." It is indeed an odd mix of whimsy with a tad bit of gravitas, but it works. This is largely due to the intellectual mix of winds, strings, percussion, and other instrumental colors. All of it supports the lyrical ethos of taking the serious both seriously and childishly. Another great thought: "I receive this body mine / From womb to grave / I now walk an ancient line / One foot follows the other / This stone, this finite place / Is it limitless?" Considering the broad scope of Unwind's character, she seems to answer her own question, "Is it limitless?" I'm thinking, Shara, you're responding to that question with a texturally intricate "yes."

All right, "In the Beginning," Shara occasionally allows the woodwinds to trill in a rather annoying, immature fashion. However, it is quite a small objection when the listener is presented with this: "This glorious day the earth is shaking hallelujah / And I will join the unending hymn hallelujah." Absolutely gorgeous, and the woodwinds gently support rather than disrupt the texture. The weakest song on the album, "Escape Routes," is still quite good, so when your weakest song still measures up to fit into the rest of the album, you are definitely doing something right. What is weak about the song is the opening staccato strums on a major chord that really do a disservice to the guitar. Plus, there's "It takes a lifetime to learn how to love." Really, Shara? Luckily, her intricate instrumentation comes in to save the day.

"Be Brave" opens in the cold pulse of slow, lingering drums: "I am a bird in water, a whale on sand / I am the flood, the fire, the oil spill / I'm feeling scared and I am overwhelmed / And so I don my mask and finger bells." Eventually, a chorus of Sharons elevates the track to a powerful declaration: "Be brave, dear one / Be changed or be undone / Be brave, dear one / Be changed or be undone." The song is an excellent lead into the somber "She Does Not Brave the War." "She does not make the history lists, nor do monuments portray / She does not brave the war, but she saves the day." Kalimba makes its way into "Everything is in Line." "Everything is in line / All things will unwind," Shara intones. The split melodic material that takes place between DM Stith and the frontwoman is infectious. Pondering the eventual disintegration of the universe has never been done so beautifully.

I think it'd be appropriate to quote a review that offers a common objection to the album as a whole:

"Mostly, though, Worden's drive-- to be so many things, to harness and perfect so many disparate sounds-- makes her work feel more distant than it should."

Amanda Petrusich, Pitchfork Media

I get it, as that was why I found Daniel Rossen's You Belong There to be far too cerebral to be authentic. However, Shara's arrangements exhibit far more character than the overly ominous sounds of You Belong There. What is not, or hardly acknowledged, in the Pitchfork review is the highly novel attitude of Unwind. I've already mentioned it, but here it is again: whimsy and optimism. In a musical sphere that glamorizes darkness and post-modern eclecticism, All Things Will Unwind is a beautiful, smiling child amidst a realm of pretentious, frustrated adults. I could go on with my track-by-track line item review, but I think it would be appropriate to end it here. Let All Things Will Unwind make its way into your ears.