Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien talks to Alt 98.7 in Los Angeles after the fourth solo show he had ever played, and is candid about the size of the adjustment. He has never been a frontman, and the few yards from his usual position to the centre of a stage feel to him more like a few hundred. He names the unfairness of his position too. Most people get a year of small gigs to learn this, and coming out of Radiohead means going straight into a spotlight with people already interested. His aim, he says, is to be present and enjoy it, since it is where he wants to be.

Asked when the nerves started, he says Christmas, then clarifies that he means the Christmas before last.

Much of the record began in Brazil, where there was no phone signal and no wifi, the children went to the village school, and life came down to music, family and eating, which he describes as simple and extremely rich. He is a hands-on father, and it was the first time in years he had hours alone while the children were out. That is when the writing started, with carnival doing the rest.