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The Claypool Lennon Delirium, featuring Les Claypool and Sean Lennon, have announced a new concept album titled The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, arriving May 1st via ATO Records.
The duo marked the occasion by peeling off one of the album’s key tracks, “The Golden Egg of Empathy,” which features a guest vocal from WILLOW (Willow Smith). Coming at a pivotal moment in the concept album’s AI-themed story arc, the four-minute song is a wonky psych workout, driven by the scuttle of Claypool’s slap bass.
Get The Claypool Lennon Delirium Tickets Here
The music video also unveils some of the art from the 24-page comic that accompanies the physical version of the album, laying out the album’s zany plot about the fictional land of Cliptopia, where a sentient AI known as Cliptron and his army of robots are resourcing everything, then turning it into Clipnex brand paperclips. It’s all up to a young artist, Hippard O. Campus Jr., who rebels against his father, Hippard Sr. (owner of the Clipnex corporation and creator of Cliptron), to stop him from turning the world into paperclips.
“The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men,” Lennon stated in a press release. “It is a tale of a technocracy eclipsed by paperclips; a young man destined to unravel the fabric of his father’s folly, and a sacred feathered Goddess (played by WILLOW), who holds the egg-shaped key to their future.”
The album was three years in the making, with recording taking place at Claypool’s Rancho Relaxo studio in Sonoma County, as well as Lennon’s studio in upstate New York. Claypool called it “the most labor intensive recording” he’s ever been involved in.
“The results are something Shiner and I are very proud of; a relevant concept piece accompanied by a colorful, phantasmic comic book,” Claypool said.
The duo will be taking the songs on the road as part of Claypool’s 2026 tour, which will see him pull triple duty with Primus, the Delirium, and the Frog Brigade. Dates kick off on May 20th, a few weeks after the album drops, and you can get tickets here.
Pre-order The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy via this location. Stream the video for “The Golden Egg of Empathy” below.
The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy Artwork:
The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy Tracklist:
01. Pro-Log
02. WAP (What a Predicament)
03. The Wake Up Call
04. Meat Machines
05. Troll Bait
06. Simplest of Deeds
07. Heart of Chrome
08. Through the Horizon
09. Mantra of the Manatee
10. The Golden Egg of Empathy feat. WILLOW
11. Cliptopia
12. Cliptron Scuttle
13. Melody of Entropy
14. It’s a Wrap
English (US) · 