This is why I live alone. For times like this: lying on my sofa, dog-like, in the pitch dark, with my eyes closed, letting Shara Worden’s songs drench me with their tears. A Sunday night, and wine, naturally.

Workhorse merges the two strands of My Brightest Diamond – rock and strings, but things get really interesting with the drums. Midway through the song a hi-hat track comes in, lasting for its remainder. In the black of night, reverberating off the rear wall of my lounge, it sounds huge. Every nuance of its playing, the triggered opens, the changing positions of the stick. I can hear everything. And all the while half break-beats accompany it. Somewhere near the floor. Shara’s low-pitched vocals smoulder with an anger that never quite ignites, kept in check by the growling bass and wandering keys.

All serve to emphasise the ominous nature of the song, literally or figuratively, the ending of a relationship, of life or of love. It’s an understated end to an album which could easily be missed or misconstrued as being too dramatic. It’s not – you just have to climb in.

Bring Me the Workhorse – iTunes UK
Amazon UK
My Brightest Diamond – Official Website