EOB – Earth
By George Moraitis
| Label: | Capitol Records – 00602508363429, Polydor – 00602508363429 |
|---|---|
| Format: | Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Orange |
| Country: | Europe |
| Released: | 2020 |
| Genre: | Electronic, Rock |
| Style: | Indie Rock, Folk, House |
Ed O’Brien has often been called the ‘bedrock’ of Radiohead’s stage presence. While Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood attract more attention, Ed’s rhythm guitar artistry, atmospheric synth and soulful vocals give the band its grounding, its musical ‘center’. Away from their day jobs, the spotlight tends to shine on his fellow band members…… Thom Yorke’s experimental dance music and Jonny Greenwood’s stellar movie scores.
“The last thing the world needs is a shit album by me,” O’Brien has confessed. On the topic of going solo, he also said “If I don’t do this, a part of me will die”. Well, it’s taken some time, but O’Brien has finally stepped out from the shadows with the release of his exceptional solo debut ‘Earth’, under the moniker ‘EOB’.
When Radiohead had finished touring ‘The King Of Limbs’ in 2012, Ed took his family to the Brazilian countryside, where he had an epiphany while soaking up carnival vibes and overdosing to Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’. It was during this time that the seeds were planted that would eventually sprout to produce this album. Ed gathered an all-star cast, including producer Flood, Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood, Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, which gave the music a greater weight and physicality. The resulting album is very interesting, predominantly laidback and peaceful but with a fusion of crunchy guitars, driving electronic rock, wistful folk, part millennium U2, part progressive Britpop. One feels that Ed just made the music that he likes and I think that’s why I really enjoyed this album.
The opener ‘Shangri-La’ is homage to the celestial euphoria derived from being blissfully away with your pals at Glastonbury, flitting between Gorillaz-style electro-pop and full-on Soulwax-inspired dance-rock. To me, it has an early 90’s pop rock vibe with a playfully scrappy energy and is a great beginning to the Earth musical journey.
The track ‘Brasil’ clocks over 8 minutes and captures the full and kaleidoscopic range of this record. It doesn’t really fit into a genre as such, being at the same time tender folk lament, campfire tropicalia, dreamy cerebral synth and dance floor banger, changing beats and moods while still feeling coherent and whole.
The stunning ‘Deep Days’ is an acoustic slow burner that acts like a respite to the lengthy track before it.
“Where you go, I will go – where you stay, I will stay,” he promises. “And when you rise, I will rise – and if you fall, you can fall on me.” It’s a grounding, peaceful expression of desire with an ‘old school’ feel.
The simplified, dreamy ‘Long Time Coming’ is another standout:
A lonely city girl, looks out into her world, lost in every way
And will she ever find, the life and love divine, to make it go away…….
After the atmospheric sombre texture of ‘Mass’, ‘Banksters’ is the closest that ‘Earth’ veers to the Radiohead sound, with its skittering beats, paranoid, gnarly guitar and complete with the anti-capitalist mantra, “Where did all the money go, you fuck?” O’Brien wrote this song in response to the 2008 financial crash but I feel that the song’s vitriol and strident topicality feel out of place on an album otherwise occupied with more personal and esoteric topics. This is quickly followed by the delicate, atmospheric ‘Sail On’ with its clear, calming, meditative quality.
The record eventually achieves its true peak with ‘Olympik’, which sounds like an Achtung Baby-era U2 song stretched out into a punk-funk extravaganza. This almost 9 minute rush of Madchester sounds and jazzy wig-outs was my personal highlight from this album and was on repeat for many days – loud! This track alone is good reason to get this album. “All our lives play that soul, intersecting the greatest flow…”.
After the energy & fervour of ‘Olympik’ the album closes with ‘Cloak on the Night’, another gut-wrenching highlight. Joined by Laura Marling, O’Brien carefully lays down each line over twinkling acoustic guitar. “You and me all night long”, they sing in harmony, “you and me in this storm/holding tight”.
So going back to Ed’s concern over the quality of his album, thankfully this is not a ‘shit’ album by any stretch. In fact, the more solemn, atmospheric sections are really accomplished and very enjoyable, hinting at a warmth and well-roundedness, both musically and in terms of personality, that many Radiohead fans have long suspected of the band’s second guitarist. And the epic ‘Olympik’ is simply awesome. This is a gross generalisation & very debatable, but for me, this album reveals to us that Radiohead may get its edgy creativity & unique musical signature from Yorke & Greenwood, but it gets its soul & rhythmic identity from O’Brien.
This is a highly enjoyable debut album that has many personalities and is not ‘trying’ to be anything. Such is the impact of Radiohead’s contribution to music that anything the band members create gets instantly scrutinized and held to the highest standards. When I recommended this album to a friend, he said “Good, but not my favourite album ever”. That’s not the point here, especially given that O’Brien has been involved in a few of those already. This is Ed O’Brien expressing himself away from the Radiohead persona. His personality shines through, and it’s a pleasure to get to know him.
Track listing
Shangri-La
Brasil
Deep Days
Long Time Coming
Mass
Banksters
Sail On
Olympik
Cloak Of The Night