Album Review: Ed O’Brien - ‘Blue Morpho’

The Big Picture:

Layered with radiant guitar textures, sweeping strings, and ethereal sounds, Ed O’Brien’s Blue Morpho is a well-planned, gently guided musical voyage across a spiritual landscape, led by an established yet still impressionable artist spreading his musical wings to soar into new territories. The album enters a dimension where psych-folk, jazz, and trip-hop build a meditative world. If the new Noah Kahan album is like a conversation with a good friend, Blue Morpho is a great friend’s soliloquy as they enter a reflective stage of their life.

Blue Morpho:

The word incantations can be defined as a series of words sung to trigger a supernatural effect. Attach that meaning to the soft hypnotic introduction of the album’s first song, and O’Brien sets up the listener for the journey to come. Clocking in at nearly eight minutes, “Incantations” builds layer upon layer to a five-minute-and-thirty-second apex, after which it makes a sauntering transition to “Blue Morpho.”

​The birds, the sweeping strings, and vocals in the second song take me outside, next to a river. “Blue Morpho” could be part of the soundtrack to Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. The rushing water to discovery and awe. Realization. It also has moments that bring “Glass Eyes” from A Moon Shape Pool to the surface. One’s past flows with one’s present and future, as one.

​“Sweet Spot” takes the listener underwater. The guitar isthe current; O’Brien’s voice is our consciousness. There is a slight build of fear that perfectly carries the listener into the next song, “Teachers.”

​Although I do not believe it was necessarily O’Brien’s intention, I could not help but think about golden teachers. IYKYK. Anxious. Fluid. Warped. The loss of ego is key as you search for a safe place to land. This is the turbulence of our journey. Yet it is transformative and fun.

​“Solfeggio” is another title that is loaded with meaning. “Nine sacred sound frequencies used in meditation and sound therapy.” The song has no lyrics, floats the listener into the ethereal, and heightens the benefits of the golden teachers. It guides us to “Thin Places,” the tunnel leading back to reality and the conscious mind.

​Blue Morpho is a metaphorical journey through O'Brien'sspiritual experiences. With reality and ego challenged and sensory rewiring completed, awakening is the final stage.“Obrigado” is how to celebrate.

A Note on the reviewer:

Having turned 50 in October and welcomed my third child into the world this March, I have been in a reflective state of mind. Therefore, while reviewing the music of artists I have grown up with, I cannot help but include their evolution. A great example is the life of Trey Anastasio. He went down a path that could have ended Phish. However, he was forced to face his flaws and mistakes. As a result of his evolution, Phish continued to grow, allowing them to complete an extremely successful 2025 and a 2026 Sphere run that matches no other. While Ed O’Brien’s story is different than Trey’s, his desire to push his musical boundaries beyond Radiohead is a vital component of Blue Morpho.

My meditation on Blue Morpho:

Just glancing over the album, I felt a strong connection and could see the weight of O’Brien’s intention; Blue Morpho is more than just a collection of songs. The album title is a butterfly that symbolizes transformation, spiritual growth, and new beginnings. The first song serves as a trigger for a spiritual experience. “Solfeggio,” the fifth song, is a set of sacred sound frequencies that interests me. “Obrigado” is Portuguese for “thank you,” literally meaning “obliged” or “indebted,” which I associate with gratitude. The artist is inviting listeners into a spiritual practice. However, my connection went beyond this album.

​In the 2020 JamBase article “Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien Discusses Phish Influence On EOB in New Interviews,” he lauded the Vermont band for their willingness “to take risks for a moment of musical transcendence.” Hearing a member of a very successful band I have respected for many years praise a band I loved for just as long was a powerful crossover for me. I’ve heard many negative comments and received many eyerolls for just mentioning that I love Phish, so to see someone from another musical dimension understand the listener’s connection to them felt like a win for me.

​Yet the most significant reason I support O’Brien is that he was not afraid to say, “Free Palestine.”

Final Thoughts on the Music:

For those listeners interested in musicians and their life journeys, I suggest listening to this album and reading interviews. Ed O’Brien is a talented artist and student of life. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to review this album.

Favorite Songs: “Blue Morpho,” “Teachers,” and “Obrigado”

Rating - 5 out of 5 (this album transcends music)