Description
The seventh-track opus is the first studio album from Primus since’s 2011’s Green Naugahyde, and first featuring original material from the current Primus lineup of Les Claypool (vocals, bass), Larry LaLonde (guitar), and Tim Alexander (drums) since 1995’s Tales From the Punchbowl. The Desaturating Seven was inspired by Italian writer and illustrator Ul de Rico’s 1978 book, The Rainbow Goblins, which Claypool used to read to his children. Previously, we heard an introduction to the album’s characters with “The Seven” and learned of their nefarious plot in “The Scheme”.
Claypool discussed the book and its inspiration earlier this summer with Rolling Stone: “I remember being incredibly impressed with the artwork and the storyline and the content and the message, and I thought, ‘Wow, this would make a great piece of music.’ As I’m getting older, I’m realizing I need to start knocking some of these things off my list. So we did the Willy Wonka soundtrack a couple years back, and this was a project I wanted to do.”
He continues, “I would look at the artwork and read the lyrics, and it’s very difficult to sing about goblins and rainbows and not have it come off being a little cornball. So I was tiptoeing the line of not necessarily being literal, but referring to elements of the story and using it more as a metaphor, when I could.”
