Music Folks
Ed O'Brien: The Radiohead Guitarist Who Paints in Sound
October 22, 2026 · by Music Folks
Ed O'Brien is the guitarist who gives Radiohead much of its atmosphere. Born in Oxford, he has spent more than three decades shaping the band's textures with effects pedals and bowed strings, and in recent years he has also stepped forward as a solo songwriter.
Quick Facts
- Born: April 15, 1968, Oxford, England
- Known for: Guitar and backing vocals in Radiohead
- Solo albums: Earth (2020, as EOB) and Blue Morpho (2026)
- Other work: 7 Worlds Collide, Featured Artists Coalition (co-founder)
- Honors: Radiohead entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019
Oxfordshire to Radiohead
O'Brien attended Abingdon School, where he met Thom Yorke and the others who became the group then called On a Friday. He later studied economics at the University of Manchester. The band signed with EMI in 1991 and took the name Radiohead. Their own story is told in our Radiohead profile, so here the focus stays on Ed.
The Texture Maker
O'Brien has described his job in the band as serving the song. In practice that means ambient washes, sustained notes and layered effects, often made with pedals and an EBow, plus backing vocals. Rolling Stone placed him 59th in its 2010 list of the greatest guitarists and joint 43rd in its 2023 update.
Beyond the Band
He has recorded and toured with the all-star project 7 Worlds Collide, co-founded the Featured Artists Coalition, which speaks for the rights of recording artists, and helped start the Laundry, a workspace and club in London Fields. He has also campaigned on climate issues and, in 2025, backed the silent protest album Is This What We Want?, which objects to AI training on copyrighted work.
Going Solo
His debut album, Earth, came out in 2020 under the name EOB and was inspired by time he spent in Brazil; a tour was cut short by the pandemic. The follow-up, Blue Morpho, was released on May 22, 2026 on Transgressive, produced by Paul Epworth and credited to Ed O'Brien. NME described it as a widescreen, prog-folk record about healing and recovery, written after a hard stretch and shaped by the Welsh countryside where he lives.
As of October 2026, O'Brien remains a member of Radiohead and is promoting Blue Morpho as his own project.