Lion (Stephen Lynch album)
Lion is the fifth album by American comedian Stephen Lynch, released in 2012. The first half of the album was recorded at Studio G! (Nashville, Tennessee) and the second half of the album was recorded live from Symphony Space (New York City).
Lynch told interviewer Dylan Gadino, "I wanted this album to have the Americana flavor to it that I love so much in the music of, say, Neil Young or Patty Griffin or Ray LaMontagne. I think it does... And, I'm confident the songs are still funny, if a bit subtler than some of my earlier work. Astute listeners will detect a slight shift of direction, comedy-wise. Musically, it's the best work I've ever done. I'm a little bit in love with it."
Background
Lynch told interviewer John Liberty, an online journalist, that he was "riding his bicycle while listening to his iPod on shuffle when it randomly selected an old mix from his last studio album." Lynch told Mr. Liberty, "I realized how much I didn't like it." Therefore, he "set out to create a musically satisfying album first. The jokes came second." Lynch added, "Really, I just wanted to make a great record of music you could listen to without paying attention to the words... I threw a lot away. I wasn't going to settle for something just because it was funny. I wanted it to resonate with me."
