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Folk Radio UK – Featured Album Review
By Simon Holland – May 25, 2015
http://www.folkradio.co.uk/2015/05/lucia-comnes-love-hope-tyranny/

“…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.”

Read the full review here.

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R2 (Rock’n’Reel) Magazine – CD Review: 4 stars
By David Lees – May/June Issue 2015

“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.”

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Folking.com CD Review
By Mike Davies – Folking.com A Great Folking Community
http://folking.com/lucia-comnes-love-hope-tyranny-delfina-dr384-lc07/

“…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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The cup of music albums floweth over
By Paul FreemanFor – San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_27665382/cup-music-albums-floweth-over

“Wow! Comnes, a San Francisco-based singer, songwriter, fiddler and guitarist, dazzles on her new album. Her vocals pack a powerful, penetrating emotional wallop. Instrumentation is impeccably textured, perfectly complementing Comnes’ vibrant voice and artful songwriting. Elements of rock, country, bluegrass, folk and Celtic music mesh in marvelous style. She’s riveting on rip-it-up numbers like the searing opener, “No Hiding Place.” But Comnes is equally compelling on tender tunes like “Lie With You Tonight” and the heart-wrenching “The Day Love Dies.” Brilliant co-production by Jeffery Wood (Penelope Houston, Luka Bloom) and the great Bay Area guitarist Gawain Mathews accentuates Comnes’ tremendous strengths. The album will be released in April, but you can preview it on her website, pre-order it on Amazon and catch Comnes live — Lucia and Her Rockin’ Irish Band play Slim’s in San Francisco on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.”