Peter Gabriel will release o\i on 27 November, completing a 25-song project that began with the full moon releases of i/o and continues with the new song Face the Wall.
by Paul Cashmere
Peter Gabriel will release his new studio album o\i on 27 November, completing the second half of a 25-song project that began with his 2023 album i/o and its unusual programme of releasing new music on every full moon. The 13-track o\i is Gabriel’s companion album to i/o, and the new song Face the Wall is the latest piece of a project that has unfolded one song at a time rather than through a conventional album campaign.
The title provides the clue to how Gabriel sees the two records. If i/o represents “the inside has a new way out”, o\i represents “the outside has a new way in”. Together, the albums explore many of the subjects that have occupied Gabriel for decades, including nature, technology, mortality, human connection and the question of where people fit within a rapidly changing world.
Gabriel describes o\i as the completion of the joint i/o / o\i project, with 13 songs bringing the total to 25 tracks. “This record has been more of a marathon than a sprint,” he says. “It’s the longest album I have ever put out with 13 tracks that complete the i/o / o\i 25 track joint project.”
There is another notable detail in the timing. Gabriel has taken only three years to follow i/o with a new studio album, making this his shortest gap between studio albums since the early 1980s.
The new album continues Gabriel’s fascination with contrasting sonic perspectives. Every song is presented in two stereo versions, the Bright-Side Mix by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent and the Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake, with Who Are We Talking To? mixed by Mike Elizondo. Both versions will be included in the four-CD edition, while the Bright-Side and Dark-Side versions will also be released separately as double vinyl albums.
The new single, Face the Wall, is available in its Dark-Side Mix. Gabriel describes music as a cathartic process and says the song reflects the thoughts and feelings underpinning the new material.
The album’s wider themes become particularly pointed when Gabriel discusses the technological changes he believes are approaching. “I have been thinking about the future and how we might respond to it,” he says, identifying artificial intelligence, quantum computing and brain-computer interfaces as three forces likely to drive a major period of transition.
Gabriel sees an artistic role in that uncertainty. “Artists have a role to look into the mists and, when they catch sight of something, to hold up a mirror,” he says.
That idea sits alongside a more fundamental concern about humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Gabriel argues that people have traditionally viewed themselves as independent beings with an entitlement to exploit the world around them. His alternative is to recognise humanity as part of nature rather than separate from it.
The songs were written and produced by Gabriel and recorded primarily at Real World Studios and his home studio. As with much of his work, the material has developed over different periods. Some songs were written after i/o, while others have been waiting for years or even decades.
“Sometimes things take time,” Gabriel says. “Some things will mature and evolve spontaneously and some will just stay hidden-away in a box until their moment in the light appears.”
Gabriel’s long-standing musical collaborators are again central to the recordings. David Rhodes, Tony Levin and Manu Katché feature alongside members of the i/o touring band and musicians including Mike Elizondo, Brian Eno, Leo Nocentelli, Tony Berg, Abe Rounds, Tom Cawley, Paolo Fresu, Linnea Olsson and Evan Smith. The New Blood Orchestra, led by John Metcalfe, also contributes, along with the Soweto Gospel Choir and Swedish male choir Orphei Drängar. Gabriel’s daughter Melanie again provides vocal support.
The visual component of the project has followed the same full moon schedule, with Gabriel commissioning artists from different disciplines to create work for the individual songs. The contributors include Judy Chicago, Shirin Neshat, Tomás Saraceno, Tatsuo Miyajima, David Altmejd and Michal Rovner. The album cover photograph was taken by Nadav Kander.
The 2023 i/o campaign established an unconventional rhythm for Gabriel’s return to recorded music. i/o reached number one on the UK album chart, and o\i now brings the wider project into a single physical release while retaining the two-mix concept.
The 13 tracks on o\i are:
Been Undone
Put the Bucket Down
What Lies Ahead
Till Your Mind Is Shining
Won’t Stand Down
Who Are We Talking To?
Yes, It Will Go
One by One
A Hard Lesson
Face the Wall
I Belong to the Sky
Looking for the Happy
Sacrament
o\i will be released on 27 November through Real World Productions.
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