Alternative Press
December 1996
excerpt from page 68

"Fans of synthesizer/samplers with soft female vocals on top will appreciate the efforts of this one-woman show. Simone Grey writes sparse songs and stretches her breathy voice in several directions. Probably more inspired by Enya than by Diamanda Galas and Jarboe, Delicatessen doesn't seem so derivative as to be uninspired; but the slow, creepy, ambient simplicity can be draining. This game of ethereal, shadowy mournfulness with codependent lyrics is a lot better if you digest the words with the music as meaningless sound. Fans of loveliescrushing, Dead Can Dance, etc., however, may adore the fragile and aptly named Bare Wire."

"If you could tape the dreams of a poet and add a soundtrack by ambient composer Brian Eno, the result might sound like Bare Wire's latest release Delicatessen (eristikös). The 15 cuts, written and performed by Simone Grey, mix subtle keyboards and pretty vocals with altered voice tracks, all driven by compelling lyrics like 'I am a bough who cannot break. I am a bough who cannot return to straight.' Personal yet universal, songs like 'Strong Winds,' 'Water Glass,' and 'Airport' may stay in your head long after the CD is over. The multimedia approach of production company eristikös shows in the CD booklet, itself a mini art treasure of unusual photographs and poetic visions."

"Can't not tell you about this CD's packaging, which was simply the most elaborate thing we've received all year (including the glossy major label promos). Eristikös...certainly tried to get someone's attention. Kudos for the effort!"

"Who wouldn't want to open a nondescript packing box that's big enough to hold a large computer or several toys? Way down at the bottom were just three little CD-sized boxes, each prettily wrapped in recycled brown paper. Inside those were: one CD, and several white tray cards with chic, minimalist designs that described the label and artist's philosophies in detail. Aha! This was an audiovisual event, the biography as both psychology and art."

"Delicatessen is very soft, seductive ambient-like music, but with a breathy voice (though not muted, like most trance albums) with quirks not unlike Jewel's. The voice is nicely doubletracked, which sounds a little eerie, but mostly rich with harmonies. According to the sleeve, Ms. Grey wrote, performed and produced all the music--another admirable feat. The songs are quite slow and drifting, languid and yet tense--circling around a strong obsession gradually building into self-destruction. Pretty, well thought-out and meticulously arranged. With Coppé, Urethane and now Bare Wire, the ambient world is finally laying deep roots here in Phoenix."

"SOUNDS LIKE: The music on Delicatessen is impressionistic, avant-garde and highly unconventional. If you give it a chance -- you need to listen to the disc in its entirety -- you will be completely entranced by the music."

"WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: I don't know about you, but when I got this huge box sent to me every few weeks with a little teaser inside, my curiosity was certainly tantalized. So when I finally got the Bare Wire album, I immediately put it into my CD player to find out what it was all about. What I discovered is this project is the complete brainchild of writer, performer and producer Simone Grey; the album has been released by a new multimedia production company called Eristikos; and it [is] unlike anything you've heard before."

"SUGGESTED SONGS: 'Gridlock'; 'On Grade'; 'Water Glass'"

"Precise control...is the lifeblood of Simone's vocal talent. She has a phenomenal range and a deep bag of dynamics she seems to reach into at will, pulling out a sultry whisper for one phrase, and unnerving banshee wail for the next and a stuttering moan for another. And most of the time, Simone bends notes so wildly or draws syllables out so long, she might as well be singing in another language. Shallow lyrics become vehicles for purely visceral expressions of pain.

"Watching Simone on stage is a captivating experience, but not a comfortable experience--you are forced into the role of voyeur, as if you just stumbled upon a stranger who is naked and sobbing but doesn't know you're there."

"My good friend and partner-in-crime Louise Malloch says, 'The singing is slow, interesting lyrics, although they are hard to distinguish. I though[t] her voice sounded like a cross between Joni Mitchell and Sarah McLachlin or maybe Dolores O'Riordan. (She does that voice skipping or breaking thing that they both do.) Her label is Eristikos (umlaut on the o), which comes from Eris, Greek goddess of discord (you know, the one who started that whole "golden apple to the fairest" thing that caused the Trojan War)."

"The first offering has been sitting on my desk for several weeks now, and I've actually had the time to listen to a lot of it and must admit that I find it refreshing, artistically redeeming and just plain fuckin' lovely all around.

"While everyone is playing the alternative bandwagon-jumping game, there remain some acts who go deeper into the self (instead of MTV) for musical inspiration and perspective. Thank the gods of music for that.

"Well then, who the hell are we referring to? In this case, it's bare wire's 'Delicatessen' with bare wire being the act and the brain child of one Simone Grey. Bare is one of the working words of these compositions -- as in baring your soul, which along with the use of electronic gadgetry, is what Grey does for us within.

"With very minimal musical support and strong, expressive vocals as the main attraction, this is unique material which remains finely balanced between the realm of art and that of music.

"The talented and self-standing Ms. Grey is equally self-indulgent as she is self-exposing. This is a rare, poetic and unusual portrait of another side of music not often visited by the local masses. Sorry, no labeling can be allowed!

"Everything comes wrapped in impressively creative, artsy packaging that indicates care and attention to the smallest detail. Excellent job."

-- JJ Terre