Ed O’Brien keeps Blue Morpho personal, spiritual and visible

Ed O’Brien’s Blue Morpho continues to be one of the most important alternative releases moving through the 25 May week. Released on 22 May via Transgressive, the album is O’Brien’s second solo full-length and his first issued under his own name rather than the EOB moniker. That naming shift matters because the record is openly tied to visibility, recovery and emergence after a difficult period of depression that followed the pandemic disruption around his previous solo album.

The Radiohead connection will always be part of the story, but Blue Morpho is more interesting when heard as its own recovery document. O’Brien works from texture, shimmer and patience rather than trying to dominate with frontman force. The album was made with Paul Epworth, Dave Okumu, Dan See, Yves Fernandez and others, and includes contributions from Shabaka Hutchings, Tõnu Kõrvits, Philip Selway and string players connected to the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. That gives the record a rich sonic frame, but its emotional center feels intimate: a musician known for atmosphere choosing to step further into the light. For a 25 May digest, Blue Morpho remains a strong weekend carryover because it is not only a solo album. It is a quiet act of self-reintroduction. Source: https://stereogum.com/2499596/weve-got-a-file-on-you-radioheads-ed-obrien/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you