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"Golden Star" (Alias Remix) from "Tear It Down: Remixes for Bring Me the Workhorse"

(Asthmatic Kitty)

Shara Worden’s participation in Sufjan Stevens’ touring band the Illinoisemakers undoubtedly helped shine a light on her own work and indubitable status as an artist in her own right. Stevens’ Asthmatic Kitty didn’t hesitate to issue Worden’s debut as My Brightest Diamond—2006’s Bring Me the Workhorse—helping to cement her as a premier voice in the indie folk circles. Who would figure that My Brightest Diamond’s record would also make ideal base material for a group of remixers? Yes, this is abstract and dramatic, cabaret-touched folk rock that you can dance to. Tear It Down is an artfully done digital reshuffling and reinvention of Worden’s work with her acrobatic voice at the center. DJ Kenny Mitchell has “Freak Out” refigured as a Chemical Brothers-style floor stomper with block rock’d rhythms and an MC break by Nimnomadic. The mystical, operatic grandeur of “Magic Rabbit”—a track that finds Worden at her most Kate Bush—is stripped by Alfred Brown to make it a no less magisterial into pocket chamber wonder. Cedar AV resculpts the haunting “Disappear” into atmospheric symphony of techno pop.

My Brightest Diamond supports the Decemberists at 8pm on Friday, March 30, at UB’s Center for the Arts. (For information, call 645-ARTS or visit ubcfa.org.)