EOB Earth LP

"Calling himself EOB, songwriter/singer/guitarist Ed O'Brien has released his first solo album after 35 years with Radiohead. Over the decades, bandmates have branched out for high-profile projects - Jonny Greenwood writes film scores and Thom Yorke has several solo recordings - but O'Brien has stayed mostly in the background. Earth pushes him to the forefront, revealing a knack for collaborative creativity."

"From the first moments of the album's opening song, "Shangri-La", it's apparent that O'Brien is steeped in Radiohead's musical language - but also that it's not his only language. The opening percussive riff has a bright-edged coyness that evokes Peter Gabriel more than O'Brien's usual band, but the falsetto vocal floating over it might call Yorke to mind. The sonic spectrum ranges from crisp maracas at the top to thudding bass at the low end."

"Coproduced by punk expert Flood, a friend of O'Brien since childhood who also plays synthesizer on the album, and Catherine Marks, known for her work with The Killers, Earth is a fine example of an artist tapping other people's talents to make something personal and new." - Anne E. Johnson, Stereophile Magazine, July 2020

'Earth' is an album of rediscovery and adventure by Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, being released under the moniker EOB. Written and recorded over five years during any possible break from the making and touring of Radiohead's 'A Moon Shaped Pool', the album deftly veers from moments of delicate folk to euphoric house, its songs seamlessly pinned together by unswerving melodic hooks and candid lyricism. A spirit of collaboration runs through 'Earth' from the production team of Flood, Catherine Marks, Alan Moulder and Adam 'Cecil' Bartlett to the extraordinary musicians O'Brien assembled to bring these tracks to life; bassist Nathan East, drummers Omar Hakim and Glenn Kotche, and The Invisible's multi-instrumentalist leader David Okumu. Portishead's Adrian Utley appears on two tracks, whilst Laura Marling duets with O'Brien on stirring closer "Cloak of The Night." But every group of collaborators needs a leader, and Earth is all O'Brien's vision. "I wanted to make a record from the heart," he says. "I wanted to make something direct. I wanted to talk about love, your family in the immediate and the wider sense, where we are on the planet, the bigger picture, life and death. I wanted to make a big hearted, warm and colorful album... something hopeful and full of love." Featuring the singles "Shangri-La", which sways between syncopated beats and twisted rock, and "Brasil", a track that morphs from a tender opening into a heightened-state rhythmic banger, 'Earth' marks a new beginning for Ed O'Brien.