Finding a partner in any sense of the word who compliments and enhances one’s life is not an easy task, and yet miraculously it does happen sometimes more than once in a way that can be celebrated by everyone. In terms of musical duos, such a perfect pair does exist in Psychedelic Rock band The Claypool Lennon Delirium which is one of many side projects quickly turning main project of Primus Frontman Les Claypool and Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger Frontman Sean Lennon. The fantastical excitement ensues as the pair’s second LP, South Of Reality, is about to be released on Friday, February 22nd, 2019, via ATO Records.
As a follow up to the hallucinatory experience of Monolith Of Phobos, released in 2016, the latest hit on the market is South Of Reality which pushes the unlimited boundaries of the unknown. Starting off the nine-track album is a melodic, psychedelic lullaby called “Little Fishes” that swims through waters of the past, before all the complications of life, and winds back into an overwhelming future. Next is an epic ballad of hallucinatory Rock titled “Blood and Rockets Movement I and Movement II,” which takes its listener on a perfect journey through the rolling hills of California, or wherever else they can imagine spilling colors of light onto all in their path.
These movements are fairly genius because they fluctuate in dominance between the quirky, funky, alternative style of Les Claypool, and the more subdued ’60s Psychedelic Rock style of Sean Lennon. The second of these movements on the album is “Cricket Chronicles Revisited: Part I & Part II” which is a play on the “Cricket and the Genie Movements” that were a special part of the previous album. It has some wonderfully wild antics, most notably at the end with the “Psyde Effects” portion of “Cricket Chronicles Revisited,” where overlapping chatter effects of prescription drug pamphlet subject matter. The message seems to be that man-made, mind-altering substances can be, or at the very least seem, more dangerous than those black market drugs derived from a more natural state.
The title track is perhaps the most animated of them all with its super catchy and eerily mesmerizing vocals of Lennon permeated with the wild bass antics of Claypool in just the right way. Then it fluctuates onto the peaceful waves of “Boriska,” and down the hatch into internet dating dilemmas subject matter among other topics in “Easily Charmed By Fools,” which is craftily structured.
The climax of the album seems to begin with perhaps one of the most darkly outlandishly, somber adventures found in “Amethyst Realm.” This track seems heavily influenced by Sean Lennon yet meets its match with Les Claypool’s contributions. The most appropriate tune to follow land on “Toady Man’s Hour” which, in opposition, seems heavily influenced by old-school Primus songs and is not lacking in charm or humor. To finalize the album, the song “Like Fleas” rounds out a top-notch album with its fast and eloquent raindrop-like keyboard movements ending in oblivion.
The magic of The Claypool Lennon Delirium is in their clear compatibility to create such unusual writing styles and combinations of technique. The witty lyrics and seriously mind-bending riffs can lift the lowest spirits in the most vibrant way. For such a new incarnation, The Claypool Lennon Delirium have proved they are the real deal and not just another supergroup. The future in delirium land is exciting, and the fact that South Of Reality is already a novella of ideas stemming and branching upward from Monolith Of Phobos, resonates out of the first nostalgia expanding into the outer realms of an abyss of colorful knowledge.
Picture flying carefree through the most dreamy and fantastical landscape of desire and that is what it feels like listening to any Claypool Lennon Delirium album. The live experience is about twice that exciting, and never fear: the boys will be embarking on the main US tour leg in support of South Of Reality in April this year. As it is well-deserved, based on impressive, creative originality alone Cryptic Rock gives South Of Reality a 5 out of 5 stars.
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