EoB

Ed O'Brien served as guitarist and backing vocalist in the groundbreaking British alt-rock outfit Radiohead, where his atmospheric playing and textural approach anchored landmark recordings such as OK Computer and Kid A. While his fellow members pursued various outside ventures across the decades, he channeled all of his efforts into the group until 2020, when—more than three decades into their shared history—he finally launched a project of his own. Issued under the moniker EOB, the album Earth blended folk, electronica, and indie-rock elements with the layered, effects-driven guitar textures that define his signature sound.

Born in Oxford, O'Brien immersed himself during the 1980s in post-punk, new-wave, and college-rock acts including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Adam and the Ants, and Depeche Mode. At the storied Abingdon School in Oxfordshire he encountered future Radiohead colleagues Thom Yorke, Philip Selway, and brothers Jonny and Colin Greenwood; still in their teens, the five formed an immediate connection and began practicing together in 1985 inside the school’s music room as On a Friday. O’Brien continued with the ensemble while studying economics at the University of Manchester, and in 1991 the group adopted the name Radiohead, scoring their breakthrough single “Creep” the next year. Alongside Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, O’Brien anchored the three-guitar frontline that characterized the band’s early identity as they shifted from Brit-pop roots toward the boundary-pushing territory of OK Computer in 1997 and Kid A in 2000. Even amid widespread acclaim, this transitional era demanded fresh approaches, prompting O’Brien to refine his tone through extended sustain and looping techniques. He further developed that personal language across subsequent releases, among them 2011’s In Rainbows and 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool. In 2019 he and his bandmates received induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Until then his output had stayed confined to Radiohead, yet an unexpected burst of material prompted him to move forward; he unveiled the atmospheric “Santa Teresa,” his debut solo recording, under the initials EOB in late 2019, followed by the full-length Earth in March 2020.