Ed O'Brien says a Blue Morpho tour of America is not feasible yet

Ed O'Brien's Blue Morpho is out tomorrow, and he tells Devon Ivie of Vulture that bringing it to the United States is not feasible for now. It's shit economics¹, he says. This autumn he plays intimate European venues instead, with a skeleton crew and the band packing their own gear, and expects to break even at best. He does not yet know which city or venue Radiohead will choose for their shows next year; the Sphere does not much interest him.

On his first album he used the initials EOB because he was unsure of himself; his own name on this one means he is no longer hiding. Paul Epworth produced it, with O'Brien's own recordings of birdsong among the flutes and strings. Philip Selway came for an afternoon to drum on “Sweet Spot” and the title track.

The record's seven songs took four years to write and record, through a deep depression and an old trauma that lockdown made worse. In the first lockdown he stopped listening to music, noticed the birdsong instead and took to identifying it with the Merlin app. Walking in the woods and by rivers was part of getting better. My cathedral is in the woods.¹