{"id":16098,"date":"2026-03-21T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/?p=16098"},"modified":"2026-03-20T13:19:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:19:01","slug":"ed-obrien-releases-title-track-from-upcoming-new-solo-album-blue-morpho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/?p=16098","title":{"rendered":"Ed O’Brien releases title track from upcoming new solo album – “Blue Morpho.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo credit – Steve Gullick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ed O’Brien<\/strong> announces Blue Morpho<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>his absorbing, second solo album and first under his own name, out May 22nd <\/strong>via his new label home, Transgressive<\/strong>, and releases the title track<\/strong>.

O\u2019Brien likes to quote the Kentucky poet and farmer Wendell Berry: \u201cTo know the dark, go dark.\u201d That philosophy became both compass and catalyst for Blue Morpho<\/em><\/strong> – a deeply personal album produced by Paul Epworth<\/strong> (Paul McCartney, Adele), born from one of the most challenging periods of his life. Though he remains one of rock music\u2019s most lauded guitarists, Blue Morpho<\/em> finds O\u2019Brien beginning anew, finally starting to figure out his approach. With its moments of hypnotic psych-folk, radiant guitars, beguiling trip-hop and luminous stillness, it reveals an artist moving beyond familiar structures and feels like a map of O\u2019Brien navigating exciting other ways to listen, work and live. He steps into the dark, and emerges renewed, evident on the stunning and uplifting \u201cBlue Morpho,\u201d inspired by the healing effects of nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the Video for \u201cBlue Morpho\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2020, after releasing his solo debut, Earth<\/em>, under his initials, O\u2019Brien almost immediately regretted waiting nearly a decade to record those songs while balancing his schedule with Radiohead<\/strong>. Some of its impulses had been lost in the gap, and there was only so much he could do to support it as the world confronted catastrophe. Later that year, O\u2019Brien entered the deepest depression of his life. Encouraged by his wife to sit in the fire of his emotions, he began a daily ritual, immersing himself in the breathing and cold-exposure teachings of Wim Hof, then retreating into his small London studio, playing guitar for hours until his brain began to fray.

There were no directions or preconceptions; O\u2019Brien was simply using his instrument to navigate 50 years of emotional trauma and turmoil that had finally rushed to the surface. Years ago, when O\u2019Brien began writing songs, Thom Yorke had told him a secret key to the craft was being a good librarian – cataloguing ideas when they happened to find and revisit later. As O\u2019Brien played now through his past, his spiritual connection to nature in the Welsh countryside and his beliefs in the possibility of healing, he kept a record of what he was making. Over the next four years, those moments evolved into Blue Morpho<\/em>, his first album fully detached from past regrets.

A series of serendipitous encounters steadily led to Blue Morpho<\/em>. After a chance connection through their children\u2019s school, producer Epworth became a key collaborator, leading to focused sessions alongside engineer Riley MacIntyre <\/strong>in Wales where the album\u2019s foundations took shape. Saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings <\/strong>contributed flutes following discussions at Glastonbury about frequency and natural resonance. And in Estonia, O\u2019Brien bonded with composer T\u00f5nu K\u00f5rvits<\/strong> over their admiration for the classicist Arvo P\u00e4rt; K\u00f5rvits then arranged strings performed by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra<\/strong>. The album was completed between O\u2019Brien\u2019s studio in Wales and The Church Studios<\/strong> in London, a 200-year-old former sacred space whose atmosphere mirrors the record\u2019s spiritual undercurrent. Sequencing assistance came from Flood<\/strong>, known for his work with U2, PJ Harvey, and Nine Inch Nails, and Ben Baptie <\/strong>handled mixing.

An accompanying short film, Blue Morpho: The Three Act Play<\/em><\/strong>, which premiered at SXSW yesterday, will be released alongside the album, with more details to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Morpho<\/em> is available on CD, cassette, LP, indies exclusive Transfiguration Edition LP (orange vinyl) and artist store exclusive Flutter By Edition LP (cream vinyl). A limited edition blue 7″ of the \u201cBlue Morpho\u201d single is available as part of the LP album bundle on the artist store while stocks last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the Trailer for Blue Morpho: The Three Act Play<\/em><\/strong><\/a>

Pre-Order Blue Morpho<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep your mind open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed O’Brien announces Blue Morpho, his absorbing, second solo album and first under his own name, out May 22nd via his new label home, Transgressive, and releases the title track. O\u2019Brien likes to quote the Kentucky poet and farmer Wendell Berry: \u201cTo know the dark, go dark.\u201d That philosophy became both compass and catalyst for Blue Morpho – a deeply personal album produced by Paul … Continue reading Ed O’Brien releases title track from upcoming new solo album – “Blue Morpho.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[131,33,15],"tags":[9227,9228,9229],"class_list":["post-16098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alt-rock","category-news","category-rock","tag-ed-obrien-2","tag-ed-obrien-blue-morpho","tag-ed-obrien-radiohead-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p74gjp-4bE","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16100,"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16098\/revisions\/16100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}