Radiohead's Ed O'Brien Emerges As EOB, Releases Beautifully Ambient 'Santa Teresa'

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As if someone with their foot on the gas of the collective madness meter heard "Punch it!," we've slammed full-speed ahead into political uncertainty as we enter the last stretch of the last year in a wildly confusing decade.

If you aren't already headlong into an existential tailspin contemplating the unstoppable passage of time, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien makes a good case for staring at the ceiling and wondering how we all got here with "Santa Teresa," the first glimpse at his forthcoming and first solo record, to be released under the recording name EOB.

Stereogum's Tom Breihan points out that Santa Teresa is a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and that in 2016 O'Brien told the BBC about a long sabbatical in the Brazilian countryside. O'Brien trekked to the city to experience two days of Carnival performances, so the shifting sands and explosive colors of the video for "Santa Teresa" may be an homage to the elaborate costuming of the festival. (Peek at the right side of the video at 1:57 to watch the red-lipsticked profile of a woman appear and quickly dissolve.)

If you stare at the ceiling fan long enough, the skittering guitar top lines of "Santa Teresa" might match up to the backwards chop of the blades. If we want it hard enough, maybe the optical illusion will propel us back to a time when serenity was achievable.