LA Weekly (December 1996)

Kristen Barry at the Opium Den

by Libby Molyneaux

Trained as a classical pianist, Kristen Barry could have become another Tori Amos (just what we need). Lucky for us, she chose the guitar-based-rocker route. Her debut record, The Beginning. The Middle. The End, is one of those rare surprises that, on first listen, sounds familiar yet new. Barry's Everywoman demons (dickhead boyfriends, self-blame, regret) are spewed not with venom but sung in her relaxed, assured voice against fetching choruses and cascading extra-large guitar riffs. Along with songs of delicacy and bruised passion, "Seeing Gun" is the album's tubes-to-the-wall scorcher and should win over fans who expect all chick rockers to burn like L7. According to Mike and Scott, the two amiably obsessed fans who run the unofficial Kristen Barry Web site and recently reported on three East Coast dates, her live shows "rock" with the singer's "venomous vocals" along with "shredding guitar" by Rick DeChurch and "killer drum solos" by Brad Caselden.