The newest addition to what is now The Claypool Lennon Delirium trilogy, The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy expands and refines the “progadelic” sound Sean Lennon has used to describe the duo’s creative partnership.

The album is a cautionary tale told through music and illustrations, where mankind has lost its way in a world slowly being bent out of shape by technology, greed, and artificial intelligence. “Cliptopia” is the place, and its contentment is threatened by an AI source called “Cliptron.”  The album tells the tale and asks the listener, “In the face of extreme, rampant, single-minded efficiency, can human values and empathy save the day?”

This is a wonderfully rendered concept record, a volume reminiscent of past glories like The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, by Genesis, The Pretty Things, S.F. Sorrow, and of course The Beatles, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The album is also suggestive of the 1981 record by Spirit, The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land. A recording that also came with a comic book and that presented a combination of song and imagery into a multifaceted animated and sonic experience.

Written, produced, and played by Claypool and Lennon with accompanying artwork by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is an auditory joy and combines imagination and allegory into a disorienting creative vision. The record ranges from the stunningly strange to creepily cosmic, each song full of thought provoking content and future forward jamming that carries the narrative into uncharted realms.

The songs are a specialized blend of melody saturated sci-fi rock and twisted funk. Tracks where Claypool’s bass and Lennon’s guitar swap responsibilities as lead instruments, while washes of keyboards and synthesizers add to a constantly morphing sonic bed.

From the opening “Pro-Log,” that segues into the circular “What a Predicament,” the Day-Glo palette of a four-dimensional song cycle takes shape with a collection that brims with quirky characters and a far-out story arc.

Lennon’s lo-fi, hi fluency guitar is as melodic and fearless as his family lines. His softly distorted licks are strung together like bistro lights illuminating the foundation laid down by Claypool’s multifaceted bass. Like his musical expeditions with Primus, Claypool’s bass is positioned as a melody instrument and the propagator of several of the album’s thematic excursions. Themes that range from whimsy to pragmatism all presented in a vibrant packaging.

“Meat Machines” moves on a trippy cardiac thump. Its bones developed by the tasteful splay of synth and Claypool’s muscular bass. “Troll Bait,” slams against the shoreline with syncopated cartoon dramatics, its rhythmic sensibilities reverberating against Claypool’s Zappa-esque vocals.

Each and every track presents a musical easter egg of note, a blissfully neurotic lick, or a bit of spacy detailing hang onto. Songs like “Simplest of Deeds,” “Beyond the Horizon,” and “Clipton Scuttle,” provide hallucinatory interludes, strange psych-pop scene changes, constructed on Claypool bass lines and Lennon’s transistor radio riffing. These movements provide the mucilage that holds the story together.

The album’s title track is a eclectic offbeat masterpiece, highlighted by the vocals contributed by guest WILLOW (Smith). “It’s a Wrap,” closes the album and puts it all together, including a memorable chorus topped by Lennon’s falsetto vocals. The song eventually winds itself up in a disorienting and audio verité finale.

The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is a multi-sensory experience shaped by eccentric characters, accompanying images, and inventive musical ideas. It fuses the distinct artistic languages of its two creators as they navigate the endangered world of “Cliptopia,” while in their own reality, they pursue a definitive artistic response to our troubled times.