As far as headspace? That’s hard to put a finger on. Keenan: I was just reacting to what Mat put in front of me in a folder. The first two albums seem to be based on a more purposeful sense of humor, whereas the last two…well, they’re more serious-minded. Based on what music Mat came up with to start on…everything stemmed from that. We have a studio in LA, and I just spent a lot more time in that studio due to what’s going on. Round: When it comes down to it, we’re making the record based on the circumstance that we’re in. Who would write up such a thing so long ago? “When it comes to Puscifer’s trajectory, some of the goals are motivated by the stimulus of what’s in front of us… If you’re asking if there’s a master plan that we wrote up twenty years ago? No.” -Maynard James Keenan If you’re asking if there’s a master plan that we wrote up twenty years ago? No. What we’re going through, the equipment, the creaks in your body, age, wisdom. When it comes to Puscifer’s trajectory, some of the goals are motivated by the stimulus of what’s in front of us. Keenan: A lot of it just comes down to the moment where you’re at-where our collective heads are at. What is the trajectory of this particular ensemble and its work? This version of Puscifer is different than the ones that recorded previous records. This is the type of project that thrives in a situation like this. We’re pretty cautious when we’re together. Is everyone in Puscifer insular enough that being sequestered from the world and each other isn’t soul crushing? With Maynard in Arizona, and Round in Los Angeles, we made our best attempt to learn more about the new album, as well as Maynard’s process balancing each of his outfits. The new Puscifer album is solid, and even steely soulful in a Devo-meets-Blade Runner fashion. Here, Keenan-with this current round of Pusciferians, including fellow vocalist Carina Round and multi-instrumentalist Mat Mitchell-looks to the Fairlight and the allure of ’80s synth-phonics for its present day castigation of man and machine. Starting with his gauzy alterna-rock act A Perfect Circle’s Eat the Elephant in 2018 and the ice-cool metallic Tool’s first new album in thirteen years, Fear Inoculum, in 2019, Keenan’s once-humorous, now-not, skronk-and-synth-driven Puscifer released a new album, Existential Reckoning, back on Halloween of this year.
Anyone convinced of Maynard James Keenan’s greatness when it comes to his exacting brand of art-damaged music and refrigerator-magnet prose knows that the singer, screamer, and writer has had a great couple of years.