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Ed O’Brien Unveils Blue Morpho as First Album Under His Own Name

The May 22 release marks a personal reinvention born from a COVID-era recovery and a studio practice of daily improvisation that expanded his sound through wide-ranging collaborators.

Overview

  • Blue Morpho, which was released on Friday, May 22, 2026, is produced and co-written by Paul Epworth and issued on Transgressive Records.
  • O’Brien dropped the EOB moniker to record under his own name because he wanted to move past insecurities and comparisons with his Radiohead bandmates.
  • He says the album grew out of what he calls the “deepest depression” of the pandemic and of a habit of turning up to the studio each day with no expectations to improvise and develop fragments into songs.
  • The record features a broad cast of contributors, including the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra with arranger Tõnu Kõrvits, Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, backing vocalists ESKA and Awsa Bergstrom, Dave Okumu and Shabaka Hutchings, and it blends acoustic psych-folk, cinematic strings, funk/prog detours and a near-10-minute closer, 'Obrigado'.
  • Early reviews praise Blue Morpho as a confident, restorative follow-up to his 2020 solo debut and suggest the record reshapes how listeners and peers view O’Brien’s solo identity and future projects.