OR (John Talabot) - Music for Empty Stadiums OR (John Talabot)

Throughout his career, Oriol Riverola (best known to the electronic music world as John Talabot) has relied on the spark—both creative and social—provided by being on the road, playing gigs, getting into the studio and living the life of a working musician. But when the world shut down in 2020, that spark was abruptly snuffed out. At the time, it was unclear when—or if—things would ever go back to normal; producing dance music felt weird and somewhat pointless, and as much of the music sphere pivoted hard toward a blurry strain of homebound ambient, Riverola found himself asking, “What might the most euphoric possible variant of ambient sound like?”

Music for Empty Stadiums is the album that answered that question, and with 17 tracks and a runtime of nearly 95 minutes, it’s easily the most substantial release of Riverola’s career, and one of the most personal things he’s ever done. That’s why he’s chosen to release it under the name OR, which is not only a stand-in for his initials, but is also the Catalan word for “gold.”

Music for Empty Stadiums is not a new John Talabot album. It is, however, a new album from John Talabot.