EOB
Earth

Late last night, in a phone call bordering on the paranormal, a friend confides in me:

“Did you know that Paul Banks played guitar with Radiohead but Thom Yorke wouldn't let him sing, so he founded Interpol?”

What?

"Yes, and he also made another solo album under a different name. He's really ashamed. Now he goes by EOB!"

As soon as I wake up, I call my friend back and ask, “Were you talking about Ed O’ Brien yesterday?

"Who?"

The one who plays guitar with Radiohead that no one knows the name of...

"Wasn't it Jonny Greenwood?"

No, there's another one too

"So?"

He made a new record, but you told me it was by Paul Banks! Last night...

“First: Radiohead make me narcoleptic. Second: last night I was on the phone with my lady!"

Brief pause.

"Then how did you even think of buying Greenwood's new album?"

It was O’ Brien

"Alright, but you're just as confused"

Once I realized my cognitive decline and the actual authorship of the album, I set out to make use of the free Apple Music subscription I snagged before the collective retreat.

That O'Brien, pardon, EOB has worked on the album for about 7 years is evident from the multitude of musical references the entire work points to from the first listen.

With “Shangri-La” you're ideally projected into a different world, beautifully far from today's materialism and the struggles of old age. Musically, we're in much more familiar territory with Blur's “Think Tank,” to which are added, in the (nice) chorus, distorted and bass-heavy guitars and echoes of the latest Radiohead.

The second single, “Brasil,” is disconcerting, almost annoying at first listen, due to the notable difference between the long Drake-like acoustic intro and its polyrhythmic, electro-psychedelic development, halfway between Caribou's “Niobe” and SBTRKT's dry house. Listen after listen, once the initial astonishment fades, the track becomes more harmonious and even pleasantly danceable thanks to the variety of rhythms and the enveloping pulse of the rhythmic base. On bass, we find Radiohead's Greenwood, still without solo projects, and on drums, Omar Hakim, who appeared in Daft Punk's hit “Get Lucky” but, more importantly, in various works by David Bowie.

Continuing with the listening, “Deep Days” seems like a funkier version of Beck's “Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime,” while “Long Time Coming” immerses us again in the great sea of '70s folk-rock, telling us about a lonely girl who needs to find herself. The intimate lyrics and atmospheres - which actually permeate almost the entire album - continue in "Mass," an acoustic track shaken by the electric tremors of guitars and enriched by the ambient embroidery of keyboards that evoke "Amazonian" memories.

"Banksters" represents the most politically and explicitly engaged moment of the entire album. Paraphrasing Barack Obama, EOB identifies the systematic error in the economic crisis that, by draining only the American middle class, has turned it into a credit card to cover Wall Street's losses ("I know there’s a flaw here/ When Wall Street devours Main Street/Chip and Pin Us"). In the midst of this economic and social storm, the only solution is to keep traveling, to take risks by embarking on our own inner ship, trusting in the presence of a lighthouse to guide us and fuel our light with its own. Perhaps experiments with psychedelic mushrooms have led O'Brien to savor mystical experiences that, musically speaking, bring him closer to the ambient post-rock of Bark Psychosis than to Kanye West's Christological rap.

If psychotropic substances seem to positively inspire O'Brien, the same cannot be said for his famous companions, especially Flood. Emerging from the cloud of marijuana that enveloped the recording studio, it seems the producer said: “If it worked with U2, the Achtung Baby sound will work with you too, pretty Eddie.” Unfortunately for EOB, his voice is not Bono's, and so “Okympik” ends up being a copy of “Until the End of the World,” even dimming the freshness of the beautiful and fluid guitar that occupies its central part.

Fortunately, the end of the album gives us a splendid lullaby for two voices featuring special guest Laura Marling. Edward assures us that, even if it seems like the world is collapsing around us, we should let Love prevail, disarming fear.

After all, Paul Banks is a big softie when he steps away from Radiohead!