Lyon, Shannon
This Love This Love
Shannon Lyons new album 'This Love This Love' is the first complete snapshot of his time in Berlin, an 10-song collection recorded primarily in the basement of a 19th century hospital with a quartet hes dubbed The Boys In The Berlin Band, with guitarist Kolja Lieven, drummer Alexander von Lieven, bassist Christian Podratzky and keyboarder Danny Dziuk. "When I met The Boys, they hadnt performed live since 1995," Lyon says. "Our first gig was on September 12, 2008 at a small bar in Kreuzberg in front of 35 people. Word got out and our next gig was in East Berlin two months later in front of 200 people." Although sessions took place over the course of half a year, Lyon and band were adamant in having the album sound spontaneous. To achieve this Lyon and The Lieven Brothers decided to self produce the 10 songs on the album and with only a few rules in place. "If we couldnt capture the song in the first or second take we would move onto another song immediately, most of the record consists of first takes." After all the tracking was complete they flew in Lyons frequent Canadian studio partner Chris Giesbrecht to mix it over four week period in a warehouse in former East Berlin. The end results on 'This Love This Love' may be Lyons most well-rounded album to date, from the Joy Division-esque title track, to the deep soul of 'Wish It Would Rain'. Lyrically, Lyon doesnt hold back in facing his personal demons - as usual - but with the album now standing as a document of that period,