Peter Gabriel – ‘i/o’ album review: a sanguine return
Since his chrysalis years founding the prog-rock project Genesis, Peter Gabriel has been anything but conventional. Like his friend and frequent collaborator Brian Eno, Gabriel straddles the fine line between accessibility and experimentalism, forging a legacy of global acclaim and seminal artistry. In his new album, Gabriel consolidates five decades of education in not one but two absorbing avant-pop products.
Although Gabriel announced plans to release i/o in November 2022, the project has been in the workshop since 2002, initially planned as a swift follow-up to Up. Of course, this new release faded to the background, and over the ensuing two decades, various hurdles and hiatuses extended the wait for Gabriel’s devoted fanbase.
In 2005, Gabriel revealed that he had over 150 unreleased songs stowed away; hence, it would be rational to assume the perfectionist has been sporadically whittling away at this monolith ever since. Following an extended preview period, we finally welcome the well-hewn sculpture, i/o.
Excluding the Dolby Atmos mixes, Gabriel’s new offering arrives in two different guises: the Bright-Side Mix, produced by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, and the Dark-Side Mix, as mixed by Tchad Blake. Since both versions of the album contain 12 tracks developed at various points over the past two decades, the cast of collaborators involved is near-equivalent to the population of a small nation.
Notably, the album features a handful of tracks nurtured by Brian Eno, including the radiant single ‘Road to Joy’. Elsewhere, we hear the delicate fingers of pianist Tom Crawley, the enrapturing vocals of the Soweto Gospel Choir, and the symphonious strings of the New Blood Orchestra, led by John Metcalfe.
Crucially, these years of nurture, meticulous collaboration and revision have spawned two bodies of infallible production. Whether it’s the crisp and spacious rhythm of ‘The Court’ or the delicate ambience of ‘Love Can Heal’, this is music primed for the superlative Hi-Fi of the wealthiest audiophile.
Despite the labels of “bright” and “dark”, both mixes surge with a prevailing tone of optimism. Whether soaring in the bliss of ‘Four Kinds of Horses’ or ruminating on the piano-driven balladry of ‘So Much’, Gabriel’s hand gently raises the listener’s chin. In the latter, the lyric, “There’s so much to aim for/ You can shoot at the sun/ But all of it just comes and goes/ There’s only so much can be done,” reminisces the powerful message of Gabriel’s popular Kate Bush collaboration of 1986, ‘Don’t Give Up’.
Thanks to the previously mentioned cast, i/o benefits from textural depth both within and across the tracks. The percussion flows from the exotic, tumbling congas of ‘The Court’ to the more traditional rock beat of ‘Road to Joy’. Meanwhile, synthesisers hearken back to the 1980s in the propulsive breaks of ‘Panopticom’ and ‘Olive Tree’.
The differences between the Dark Side and Bright Side mixes are fractional in most areas and boil down to additions or omissions of texture. For instance, in the muscular finisher, ‘Live and Let Live’, Stent opts for expansive orchestral strings at the climax while Blake infolds a more understated brass run.
Whatever mix we begin with, we’re met with a compelling distillation of not just the last two decades of work but Gabriel’s story of over half a century. This music is by no means revolutionary, but even in its darkest moments, i/o imbues rays of hope at a time when the world needs them more than ever. Once again, Gabriel has proven that pop can delve far beneath the skin.
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