As the story goes, Ed O’Brien had just released his first solo album, Earth, in 2020 and then the world shut down. He was barely able to promote it and then, like all of us, had to enter a period of isolation. Having that time alone, even while with his family, gave him time to brood, which led to a dark depression and a cataloguing of ideas that he kept for four years until he was able to take time away from being Radiohead‘s guitarist to write and record his excellent second solo album – Blue Morpho.
The album is named after a butterfly, and O’Brien does indeed spread his wings and transform across the album’s length. “Incantation” starts off the record with psychedelic folk flavor with O’Brien’s guitar sounding like it’s melting at one point. The title track unfurls like the titular butterfly enjoying the sun for the first time, and O’Brien did find a reconnection with nature while writing the album in Wales and spending a lot of time in the woods. The soft vocals of “Sweet Spot” reveal O’Brien’s vulnerability as he felt the world shifting around him (and the rest of us) and wasn’t sure what, if anything, to do about it.
The groove of “Teachers” is outstanding, reminding me a bit of Boz Scaggs‘ stuff. O’Brien has acknowledged that he wasn’t so much interested in rock on Blue Morpho as he was jazz and trip-hop. “Midway through life, I just lost my way,” he admits. Dude, been there. Also, O’Brien’s solo absolutely shreds on this track.
“Solfeggio” is an instrumental drone track that makes me think O’Brien was trying to capture the fuzz in his mind as he tried to wrangle all the thoughts he was putting to paper, and “Thin Places” is another instrumental that’s calmer and meditative…as if O’Brien found that the best way to wrangle all those thoughts was to set them free to land where they wanted and not grasp them so hard (if at all).
The album ends with the nearly ten-minute “Obrigado.” “Sunny days are awaiting me,” O’Brien sings, and you believe him. We can all have those sunny days where “every day’s a symphony” if we allow them to happen. The song is bright, lush, and brilliant.
The whole album is. Nice work, Mr. O’Brien.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR!]
