While up to 19 members have been known to circulate in and out of the group, Shara Worden remains the driving force behind indie-rock brain trust My Brightest Diamond. Despite her past associations with Sufjan Stevens (she played in his backing band), Worden's songs are hardly whimsical: the meat-and-potatoes drama in her fringe-pushing mini-operas engages the more classical, eclectic side of chamber pop. Dense string sections and the off-putting sweet-yet-throaty vocals aside, she's been at top of everyone's "emerging" lists now for long enough.