The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy

The Claypool Lennon Delirium — 2026

“Claypool and Lennon keep the circus spinning with bass-heavy weirdness, prog detours, and melodic psych-pop.”

The Claypool Lennon Delirium, featuring Primus bassist Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon (son of John and Yoko) collaborating on epic, whacked-out psych-prog, is one of modern rock’s more unexpected collaborations. Or at least it was—over the past decade, though, the pair (supported by Stone Giant keyboardist João Nogueira and Cake drummer Paulo Baldi) has carved out their own trippy carnivalesque niche over two albums and a handful of EPs. Now they’re back with their third LP, the elaborately-titled The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy. Over the course of its 14-track/hour-plus runtime, the album covers a lot of ground both sonically and lyrically: spacey prog-rock and whimsical pop-psych meet Claypool’s funk-influenced bass playing and anarchic sense of humor. Lennon’s vocals represent the more melodic side of the band, while Claypool inhabits a cast of twisted characters that deliver lyrics ranging from explorations of art and philosophy to artificial intelligence and the current political climate.

The album pinballs back and forth between more traditional songs and quirky, offbeat tracks that sometimes feel more like skits than full-blown songs. The bouncy “WAP (What A Predicament)” is an early highlight, while “The Golden Egg of Empathy” (featuring WILLOW) brings all of the band’s disparate strands into a cohesive whole. “Meat Machines,” another early standout in the running order, will appeal to more traditional psych fans, and closer “It’s A Wrap” pairs a churning, prog-electronic instrumental with a retelling of philosopher Nick Bostrom’s “paperclip machine” thought experiment, a cautionary tale about giving AI too much agency over its own decisions.

Besides the obvious comparisons to Primus and Lennon’s Ghost of a Sabertooth Tiger, The Delirium’s more accessible moments also call to mind modern psych acts like The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, and Animal Collective. The more whimsical aspects, meanwhile, feel influenced on one hand by the early psych-pop of Pink Floyd and The Beatles and, on the other, by the manic frenzy of new wavers like Devo and Oingo-Boingo.

The whole thing runs a bit long in the tooth, but if you’re already on board with the Delirium’s musical circus then The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy is a show you won’t want to miss.