
Peter Gabriel shares new single ‘This Is Home’
Peter Gabriel has shared his new single ‘This Is Home’, co-produced by electronic artist Skrillex.
The new track is the latest snippet to be released of Gabriel’s upcoming studio album i/o, his first studio album of original material in over 20 years. So far, the record is yet to arrive, but the former Genesis musician has released a whole host of singles from the LP including ‘Love Can Heal’, ‘Panopticom’, ‘Road To Joy‘, and ‘Olive Tree’.
Gabriel commented on the track: “It’s a love song. It began with inspiration from some of the great Tamla Motown rhythm sections so we’re trying to recreate that in a modern way, complete with the tambourine and handclaps. The groove I like a lot, Tony Levin does a great bass part there.”
“I did an unusual thing for me in that I tried doing this low voice / high voice thing, so you get this almost conversational voice at the beginning and the second part is a higher, more emotional voice. I thought that would be both intimate and emotive to put the two side by side,” he continued.
On Skirllex’s involvement on ‘This Is Home’, Gabriel added: “I’d had a call from Skrillex, who’s a very talented musician, and I thought it would be interesting to see what he had in mind, so he came to my home studio and we sat down and talked and tried to evolve bits and pieces and it was mainly for this song.”
The pioneering artist continued: “He was trying to encourage me to write a song about staying up all night in a night club and that sort of thing, but that’s not really my life so I made it more about family and home and I like it. Though we took the song in this other direction it was an interesting experience nonetheless, and I think it is good for me to be taken outside my normal comfort zone sometimes.”
Gabriel also sought the assistance of Swedish male voice choir Orphei Drängar and orchestral arranger John Metcalfe on the track. On their contribution, he added: “The choir, Orphei Drängar, are based in Sweden and I think they get a fantastic sound, it’s dark, stirring and emotional. The strings in the other middle section I really like, it’s quite catchy, poppy in a way. I think John picked up on what I was trying to go for there and did a beautiful job, as always.”
Listen to ‘This Is Home’ below.
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