Leading into the release of their sophomore album South of Reality on February 22nd via ATO Records,
The Claypool Lennon Delirium are keeping busy. Today, the dynamic duo released a new track, "Amethyst Realm", following last week's release of an animated video for first single "Blood and Rockets".
South of Reality might be just the antidote this sick world needs. Music so potent it could repel an asteroid impact from space, these seasoned warriors of psychedelia have crafted timeless songs that may as well be chiseled in stone. The monolithic dream team's new record was produced by
Les Claypool and Sean Lennon themselves, and engineered and mixed by
Les Claypool at his own Rancho Relaxo studio in Sonoma County, California.
Rolling Stone has said said the new record "feels like an organic extension of
Monolith of Phobos, blending the wildly surreal and psychedelic with satirical social commentary." The New Yorker calls the band a "fully realized artistic effort", recognizing the "natural chemistry" between Sean and Les.
Consequence of Sound called the band a "super-duo" and Guitar World called the track "Blood and Rockets", a "psych-rock epic".
Known independently for their accomplished music careers, Sean Lennon and
Les Claypool first envisioned melding their powers back in 2015, when Sean's band The G.O.A.S.T.T. was opening for Primus on a summer tour. After setting the intergalactic scene ablaze with their first record,
Monolith of Phobos, they've joined mustaches once more to wrap listeners up in a mind-bending sonic cyclone.
Claypool brings his skilled combo of rubber and grit, which is infused with Lennon's melodic, spacey style. Together, they tightrope-walk the line between highbrow-clever and lowbrow-brilliant. The explosive result is like pink-flavored Starburst candy followed by a shot of moonshine for your eardrums; a twisted, auditory voyage that will have you singing and hallucinating along to every lyric.
South of Reality is an expression of our upside-down times, offering listeners both an escape from modern chaos and a filter through to which to embrace it. "Little Fishes" is a bittersweet lament to a purer time, pre-technology, pre-pollution-an ever-changing anthem that shifts time signatures and keys, calling back to the free-form rock of the 1960s as well as mirroring the way restless generations shift through profiles and apps. "Blood and Rockets," "Borishka," and "Amethyst Realm" immortalize oddball geniuses on the fringe of history who challenge the natural order of things. With the titular track, "South of Reality," the listener is invited to consider the warped goggles through which the duo looks at the world-the fractured and manufactured intimacy that defines our everyday existence.
So grab your goggles and a month's supply of Kool-Aid because
The Claypool Lennon Delirium is about to take you for a ride on a rock 'n' roll rocket ship, and frankly you may never come back!
Tour Dates:
04/10 Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
4/12 Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
4/13 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
4/14 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
4/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
4/17 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
4/19 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
4/20 Nashville, TN @
Marathon Music Works
4/21 Atlanta, GA @ SweetWater 420 Festival
4/23 St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
4/25 Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
4/26 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
4/27 Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
Photo Credit: Jay Blakesberg
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