Following a late 2025 reunion tour with Radiohead after a seven-year hiatus, guitarist Ed O’Brien has wrapped his second solo album, the Paul Epworth-produced Blue Morpho, which will be out May 22 on Transgressive. Its title track is can be sampled below.
O’Brien made the album in the midst of the worst period of depression of his life. Per a press release, 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.”
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As the material developed, O’Brien connected unexpectedly with Epworth through their kids’ mutual school as well as engineer Riley MacIntyre. Radiohead drummer Phil Selway plays drums on two tracks, while Shabaka Hutchings chips in on flute following a conversation about acoustics with O’Brien at the Glastonbury festival. In addition, Tõnu Kõrvits arranged strings performed by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, while U.K. production legend Flood (U2, PJ Harvey) offered suggestions on sequencing.
Blue Morpho will be augmented with a short film dubbed The Three Act Play, with further details to be announced.
Meanwhile, O’Brien set hearts aflutter during an interview at South by Southwest, when he confirmed Radiohead would return to the road in 2027 and henceforth would play 20 shows every year on a different continent. “No more, no less,” he said. For now, there’s no official news about the concept.
Late last month, the band decried the unapproved use of a choral version of its classic song “Let Down” in a post on the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Control’s official Instagram page. “This song means a lot to us and other people, and you don’t get to appropriate it without a fight. Also, go fuck yourselves,” they wrote on social media.
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