Reality has never been all it’s cracked up to be. Especially when it comes to these guys. Because let’s face it, the reality is that the collaboration of Primus’s mondo bass weirdo Les Claypool and beloved musical scion Sean Lennon just shouldn’t work. But it clearly does. They established that with 2016’s freaky Monolith of Phobos. They savoured it on the 2017 covers EP Lime and Limpid Green. And now, they take it to another level on the sophomore full-length South of Reality. Redefining the term supergroup by playing every note and instrument on the album (save for some drums), Claypool and Lennon continue to combine their talents to fashion wonderfully trippy, creatively complex constructs. While all the writing credits are shared, it seems easy to see who brings what to the table: Claypool’s lumpy rubber-band basslines and zany lyrics are hard to mistake, while Lennon’s pop melodicism and sweet psychedelic flourishes are literally his birthright. Thankfully, they mind-meld into more than the sum of their parts on standouts like the slinky Revolveresque Easily Charmed by Fools, the dreamy Blood and Rockets, the curry-flavoured Cricket Chronicles Revisited, the space-rocking title cut and more. A few of these tracks stretch out more than earlier ones, but at just 47 minutes, this is still a disc without fat or filler. Nice to see Claypool and Lennon keeping it real. Even if the whole affair is still truly unreal.
