Peter Gabriel is terribly fond of a Big Idea. With Genesis he would sing in character as a lawnmower, a fox and as ‘Slipperman’. His final work with the band, in 1974, was The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a double album driven by what we might kindly describe as a ‘kaleidoscopic’ narrative involving a Puerto-Rican protagonist on a voyage of self-discovery in New York City.
Since going solo there has always been plenty of stuff whirling around each new Gabriel project. His Real World HQ in the West Country is part recording studio, part hi-tech hippie lab, encompassing conceptual technological probing, multimedia collaborations, NGOs and various foundations.
i/o is best when Gabriel leans into a natural inclination towards melancholic introspection
In not unrelated news, it has been 21 years since Gabriel last put out a record of original material. His first album since Up in 2002 is not short of Big Ideas. The album comes in three different mixes – ‘Bright-Side’, ‘Dark-Side’ and ‘In-Side – while throughout this year, a new track has been released each full moon, accompanied by pieces of specially commissioned visual art. During all this, Gabriel was busy touring Europe and the US.
The risk, after a year of advanced foreplay, is that the arrival of the album itself will prove anticlimactic. Perhaps the best approach is simply to set aside all the slightly exhausting context. Without knowing anything of Gabriel’s methodology, is this a record you might wish to receive from Santa? There are 12 new songs here: what’s the cracker/turkey ratio?
The good news is that Gabriel has retained both the power and range of his wondrous voice and his ability to write compellingly in a manner which balances atmosphere, texture, rhythm and melody. Surprisingly, perhaps, the music doesn’t feel laboured.
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