Radiohead Guitarist Ed O’Brien Premieres Nine-Minute Solo Song, ‘Brasil,’ and Short Film; Debut Album Out Early 2020

The members of Radiohead have dabbled in projects outside their “day job” for a while. Guitarist Jonny Greenwood has done extensive work scoring films, while vocalist Thom Yorke has released a handful of solo albums — and done his own scoring, among other projects. But for guitarist Ed O’Brien, his latest endeavor is his first foray outside the realm of Radiohead.

This is BRASIL… https://t.co/B3CN0hVAWk
We had a profound experience living in this extraordinary country. Happened to go to carnival in Rio in 2013. Truly the greatest show on earth… an explosion of lights, melody, rhythm & love. For me, one of those musical eureka moments pic.twitter.com/w0RoZaIobP

— Ed O'Brien (@EOBOfficial) December 5, 2019

In early 2020, O’Brien will release his debut solo album under the moniker EOB. On Thursday, O’Brien previewed that record with a nine-minute song titled “Brasil,” which also received its own surreal short-film music video from director Andrew Donoho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xefWbfWUbrQ

Accompanying O’Brien on “Brasil” are drummer Omar Hakim and O’Brien’s Radiohead band mate, bassist Colin Greenwood, with additional help from David Okumu (guitar), engineer Richie Kennedy (sampler programming) and Adam “Cecil” Bartlett (programming). The song was mixed by Alan Moulder.

More, via the news release:

In O’Brien’s words, “Brasil is a state of mind, not a place or time,” making the song a natural soundscape for a re-imagination of human experience balancing the terror of the elimination of the individual with the beauty of a universal oneness. “H.P. Lovecraft, Kubrick, and Junji Ito have created some of my favorite sci-fi narratives,” he says. “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? The theory that humans, as a species, actually represent one large, singular organism has always fascinated me, 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.’”

In addition to the musicians mentioned above, O’Brien’s upcoming album also features appearances from Laura Marling, Adrian Utley, Nathan East and Graham Kotche.

“Brasil,” meanwhile, is the second solo song premiered by O’Brien in recent months, after “Santa Teresa” (which will not appear on the album) surfaced in October.