Ed O’Brien likes to quote a line from the great Kentucky poet and farmer Wendell Berry: “To know the dark, go dark.” It is the insight, after all, that ultimately led O’Brien from one of the darkest spans of his life to “Blue Morpho“, his absorbing second solo album.
Named for the iconic and magically iridescent butterfly O’Brien first encountered in Brazil, “Blue Morpho” is not some grand destination for O’Brien, not a finishing point. He speaks of the people with whom he made it as a new musical family, a group of compatriots he cannot wait to work with again. He is still learning how to write songs and trust the result, how to help lead a band toward his burgeoning vision. He is candid about the discrepancy between being in one of the world’s biggest bands and being one of rock music’s most lauded guitarists but also being a beginner again, a new songwriter and finally starting to figure out his approach.
O’Brien will talk to you about faith and recovery, psychedelics and meditation, Wim Hof and wilderness, all avenues for continuing to grow. “Blue Morpho” is part of the same endless journey — going in the dark, emerging from it, and recognizing that, if we’re living at all, there will always be more darkness to navigate not too far up ahead.
Almost slept on this album for a month after release but I’m so glad I didn’t. 2:45 on “Teachers” is sublime. “Obrigado” is a near-indescribable bossa-influenced epic: at times uplifting, contemplative, and searching – a fitting conclusion to an album I almost ignored entirely. The extended slow burn outro is an out of this world vibe as well.
The Fat Angel Sings 