Primus frontman Les Claypool and Sean Lennon have announced the third album from their collaborative project The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and shared a new single featuring vocals from Willow (aka Willow Smith).
The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy is set for release on May 1 via ATO Records, but you can watch the video for The Golden Egg Of Empathy right now.
A synopsis for the concept album reads: "Set in the once-glorious land of Cliptopia, where a sentient A.I. known as Cliptron and his army of robots are resourcing everything, then turning it all into Clipnex brand paperclips, the album follows young artist Hippard O. Campus Jr. as he rebels against his father, Hippard Sr. (owner of the Clipnex corporation and creator of Cliptron).
"With help from salty sea-dog Colonel O'Coren, Hipp embarks on a fantastical adventure to stop Cliptron's cold, chrome heart from converting the world, humans included, into paperclips.
"Hipp's quest leads across the sea to the Isle of Lucidity, where the all-wise Ministry of Manatees guide him to the Great Parrot-Ox, whose Golden Egg Of Empathy is the only thing that can bring understanding and emotion to Cliptron."
Sean Lennon describes the album as "a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men".
In the story, Willow, daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, plays a 'sacred feathered Goddess' who holds the key to the future, apparently.
"All celebrity children just know each other," Sean Lennon jokes in a new interview with Rolling Stone. “There's a network. If you do Control-Cap-Shift-Nepo on Facebook, there's a secret Facebook where we all just hang out."
"She's just a cool friend of mine who happens to be an amazing singer," Lennon says more seriously, "and we've actually worked together on a bunch of stuff over the years that hasn't even come out. She listens to metal and jazz and funk - she’s just really open-minded and experimental. I admire her a lot. I think her style is really sick."
Watch the video for their collaboration below.
Meanwhile, Led Claypool's main band Primus have announced plans to tour the UK and Europe for the first time since 2017.
Having previously been announced as one of the headline artists at this summer's ArcTanGent festival in Bristol, Primus will now also play headline dates in Manchester, Glasgow and London in August. These will be Primus first UK shows since a one-off appearance at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London on June 20, 2017.
The El Sobrante trio - completed by guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer John Hoffman - will also play headline shows in Europe as well as appearing at festivals, including Brutal Assault in Czechia, and legendary Dutch weekender Dynamo Metalfest.
