Lucia Comnes is an American singer, songwriter, fiddler and guitarist with a ‘singular voice’ (San Francisco Chronicle) whose roots music crosses genres of Americana, Folk, Irish, Bluegrass & Rock.
DELFINA RECORDS hosts an Artist Interview with Lucia Comnes on why she made her new album ‘Love, Hope & Tyranny’, playing with Joan Baez, Paul Brady, Vieux Farka Toure and the T Sisters, playing for 60,000 people at the Oakland Colosseum, being inspired by Madonna, Emmylou Harris and First Aid Kit, winning the Grand Prize in Dallas, Texas, for Best Song and her upcoming recording session in Nashville, Tennessee.
“…With the songwriting competition win and an endorsement from Joan Baez there’s a real sense of upward momentum and just as Lucia is getting set to make her debut in the UK too. But more than that there’s the real sense of a passionate and articulate artist, channelling all of her wide ranging, globe trotting experience into a wonderful record that balances a real sophistication, with an authentic rootsy vibe that proves simply irresistible.”
“Lucia Comnes’s fourth album ‘Love, Hope & Tyranny’ features the Dallas Songwriters Association’s current song of the year, ‘No Hiding Place’. The first album for which Comnes wrote or co-wrote all the songs and sings them in English, it’s her most accessible. Her previous work featured a cappella and European folk, world fusion, songs in seven languages and an Irish/Celtic album recorded in Gaelic and English interspersed with jigs, reels and airs.
Comnes’s voice is crystal-clear and I love her double-stop style of fiddle playing but it is underused. This was deliberate, as Comnes ‘…wanted to focus on my songwriting for this album, so I let the songs lead and the fiddle follow. But in my live shows there is plenty of fiddling. And perhaps in the next album as well.’
Comnes’s subject matter is wide ranging. ‘Because They Never Do’, one of her ‘tyrannical’ songs is also a love song without hope – a haunting track about the exodus of millions of young Irish, whose parents were left behind to face famine. ‘Look Again’, about the horrors of Chernobyl, emphasises Comnes’s commitment to meeting and defeating current environmental challenges. This album sounds better with every listen.”
“…Her fourth album, which is deeply rooted in rootsy Americana , kicking off with ‘No Hiding Place’, an itchy, swampy blues number that marries lines from Appalachian ballads to a Bo Diddley beat, fiery bowed fiddle and backing vocals from the T Sisters and sounds like a real live scorcher. An often dazzling fiddle player, she’s no shrinking violet on the vocal front either, her strong voice stained with a backwoods grittiness yet also crystal clear, which, in tandem with powerful melodies and forceful, powerful, earthy lyrics that reflect her connection to the elements, means there’s not a track here that doesn’t command your attention…” Read the full review here.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lucia Comnes is an American singer, songwriter, fiddler and guitarist with a ‘singular voice’ (SF Chronicle) whose roots music crosses genres of Americana, Folk, Irish, Bluegrass & Rock. She writes powerful melodies with forceful, earthy lyrics that reflect her connection to the elements.
Her ability to seamlessly blend different styles results in music that draws from the past but is refreshingly contemporary. Lucia’s fiddling is a powerful and emotional expression of her musical vision – a vision that demonstrates that she isn’t afraid to take chances. Her voice, crystal clear but with a hint of mystery, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “singular… embedded with soul and spirit.”