Peter Gabriel – i/o | soundsfromthedarkside

Peter Gabriel - io After more than two decades Peter Gabriel is finally back with a new album. We investigate if the wait was worth it.

Music is a strange thing. It can be vacuous and fleeting, or utterly engrossing. Oftentimes, music will link itself involuntarily to situations or places, creating sonic memories of sorts. I have certain songs that will always remind me of certain places, happenings or a specific airplane flight. For example, I can’t hear Bathory‘s Blood and Iron without thinking of the sunrise I was witnessing from a Greek beach two decades ago. It’s strange then, when an album releases and you already have those memories tied to the songs. i/o, the tenth album from Peter Gabriel has been an integral part of my journey in 2023, both musical and emotional. Gabriel’s first album of original material since 2002’s Up has been slowly coming out over the course of the year, with one song being released every full moon. It feels like I’ve been listening to i/o for a year now, and in a sense that’s true, in an ever expanding capacity. It also has been such fun being on this ride and discovering new songs each month that it almost makes me sad that this part of the journey is now over, with the finished album finally out on the streets.

Having first been teased all the way back around Up‘s release, i/o certainly has been a long time in the making. Apparently, preliminary planning and recording already began in 1995. That’s a long time to work on a new album, and I’m sure there were a lot of people who never thought they’d even see a new Peter Gabriel album in their lifetime. One of them, for a long time, was my father, who in the end sadly checked out with all but the last two songs released. Having been drip-fed the material for over a year (and having attended the phenomenal live show in Amsterdam), you might think tedium would set in to some extent, but the twelve songs still sound fresh even if some of them have already had a lot of time to gestate. It’s also good to finally hear i/o in its entirety.

At sixty-eight minutes, this is Gabriel’s longest album to date, with most of the songs hitting the five-minute mark and some exceeding it for quite a bit. The meticulous structuring of i/o, however, makes for an engrossing listen and prevents the album from getting long in the tooth. There is so much different stuff going on here that it will take a while for things to settle in, especially if you haven’t been following the monthly releases that led up to the album’s release. One thing that is immediately clear however, is that i/o is a more upbeat album than Up in terms of mood. That album was a mostly melancholy and sometimes downright depressing affair. This one has songs like that as well, with Gabriel ruminating on old age and death, but it also allows itself to revel in joy and abundance. The first single and opening track Panopticom is a good example of that. It sounds like vintage Peter Gabriel, like it was left on the cutting room floor during the sessions for Up or even Us (and chances are that some of the material does stem from sessions from those times). Production-wise it adheres to 2023 sensibilities, but all in all it’s a cracking, timeless song that you could fit snugly anywhere into Gabriel’s discography. The same goes for joyous songs like the title track, Road to Joy (Kiss that Frog, anyone?) or Olive Tree. These are the most fun, upbeat songs he has released this side of 1992’s Us. Or the wonderful Live and Let Live that closes out the album, with its native African elements reminding somewhat of In Your Eyes.

On the other hand we have the more melancholy, introspective songs we’ve also come to know and love, and here we find some of the album’s best material. It’s on songs like The Court or the Brian Eno-collaboration Four Kinds of Horses (probably the best song on the album overall) that the intricate orchestration that quietly permeates the entire album steps into the limelight and one can truly hear how masterfully crafted the material is. There are so many small details tucked away in the songs that it will take ages to fully appreciate i/o‘s full scope. Making things even more difficult for the more casual listener is that inclusion of both the “Bright Side” and “Dark Side” mixes, both colouring the tracks in different ways and highlighting different details, putting some elements to the front whilst burying others in the mix. There’s a lot to take in, and I’m not even counting the Dolby Atmos “In-Side” mix which is included on the accompanying Blu-ray versions of the album. Personally, I tend to favour the Bright Side mixes because they sound more dynamic overall, allowing every element to breathe more, but that is only personal preference.

Is i/o Peter Gabriel’s best album then? Could it be the 73 year old artist’s artistic swan song? These are questions one cannot possibly answer at this point, but they both might be true. I do regard i/o as a masterpiece in both songwriting and artistry though. It once again cements Gabriel’s prowess as a musician and proves that yes, twenty-one years waiting time can still be more than worth it. I for one hope there’s enough spark left in the old dog to pull another trick like this, but for now we have an immaculate new entry in an already stellar discography. It’s a masterfully crafted piece of musical art and a thrilling collection of pop songs, and we should be thankful that it’s finally here.

Label: Real World / EMI

Buy it here: https://petergabriel.com/

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