Lara Michell's third solo effort Ruby Red is a fiery collage of gritty electric guitars, flamenco-inspired fingerpicking, lush vocals and hook-laden pop rock. Unlike Somniloquy, her delicate and dreamlike sophomore album, Ruby Red is wide awake, aggressive and straight from the hip. "Tracks such as the opening energy blast 'House on Fire' and 'Scratching' revel in the sound of dirty, distorted electric guitar chords. 'Something I Can Use' alternates restrained verses set on a vaguely near-Eastern motif with a ride-of-the-Valkyries chorus, recalling the feminine goth-metal of former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. But even amid the moments of guitar aggression, she's most effective keeping it pretty and breathy, playing the calm, center of the storm. And the album is well-balanced, with moments of ruminative gravity framed by Michell's fine acoustic picking ('Outside the Inside' and 'Sinking') and one ultra-catchy mid-tempo compromise ('Blooming')." -- The Oregonian, January 2005 "Michell first came to the attention of the Portland rock cognoscenti in the mid-'90s as the fluid-fingered guitarist in the all-gal band Carmina Piranha. It was a dynamite group, one that stitched together advanced pop smarts, stellar playing, a bit of gypsy fire and a little tango, all with the inspired recklessness of any punk band. Her third [solo] record, Ruby Red, is a colorful and enticing affair. Equally brainy and brawny, the record definitely reveals Michell as one of the more inventive and intriguing all-around musicians in town, as she continues to find ways to compound various ethnic influences into an engaging pop format." - The Portland Tribune