Julian Lage tells the story behind each song on the album in a series of interview clips. Here is the clip for “Opal”, posted on his YouTube channel.

song: Opal
artist: Julian Lage
album: Scenes from Above (2026)
composer: Julian Lage

electric guitar: Julian Lage
double bass: Jorge Roeder
acoustic piano: John Medeski

(drums: Kenny Wolleson)
(organ: John Medeski)
(steel-string acoustic guitar: Julian Lage)

This is a transcription of the lead guitar and the bass part on “Opal”, and I added the acoustic piano part as well – if can be of use to anyone (for me, it was a fun treasure hunt for notes at least). (The acoustic guitar blends terribly well with the electric guitar and organ, so I’m afraid I cannot do this part justice transcribing it.)
In the promotion text, Julian Lage presents the songs of Scenes from Above as “musical poems”, and I believe that this composition opens the album with a beautiful example of this: The tune does not progress in standard 4-bar patterns but rather by following its stanza-like phrases. With the rondo form and the organ playing simple but busy chord progressions, the arrangement attains a Baroque-era and church-like atmosphere. This is reinforced by the choice of not featuring a guitar solo, but merely giving the lead a song-like melody! This also makes it relatively easy to play along to. Enjoy!