Radiohead member Ed O’Brien will release his debut solo album, Earth, on April 17th via Capitol Records under the name EOB. The musician has previewed the forthcoming album with “Shangri-La,” which will appear alongside previously released track “Brasil.”
“Thank you to all the incredible musicians who helped me and the people who put it together in the studio,” O’Brien wrote on Twitter. “It was a proper journey getting here. Recorded in Wales and London. Phew we made it!!”
Earth will feature nine tracks and is available for pre-order now. The recording of the album began in the fall of 2017 and concluded in early 2019. The release was produced by Flood and mixed by Alan Moulder, and includes contributions from Omar Hakim, Colin Greenwood, Adam “Cecil” Bartlett, David Okumu, Richie Kennedy, Laura Marling, Adrian Utley, Nathan East and Glenn Kotche.
O’Brien released “Brasil,” a nine-minute single, in December alongside a trippy short film directed by Andrew Donoho. “H.P. Lovecraft, [Stanley] Kubrick, and Junji Ito have created some of my favorite sci-fi narratives,” O’Brien said in a statement about the video. “But I’ve always wanted to reinterpret their horrific premises into a more poetic and optimistic notion. What if an alien or higher being were to come to earth to help us achieve a greater existence, and not to destroy us? What would it look like if everyone on earth shared thoughts, experiences, and actions?”
He added, “The theory that humans, as a species, actually represent one large, singular organism has always fascinated me,” he continued, “and I wanted to explore that concept visually through a variety of different character perspectives, mediums, and impressionistic visual effects. All these layers and ideas culminated into our narrative for ‘Brasil.’”
Last October, O’Brien shared his first-ever solo song, “Santa Teresa,” although that one does not appear to have made the album.
Earth Tracklisting:
1. Shangri-La
2. Brasil
3. Deep Days
4. Long Time Coming
5. Mass
6. Banksters
7. Sail On
8. Olympik
9. Cloak of the Night