“If I were a butterfly, 21 years would be an eternity,” commented Peter Gabriel, in a video interview. “And if it were a mountain, it would be an instant. So, everything is relative.”
It had been 21 years since Gabriel, the thoughtful, avant-garde English singer-songwriter, released an album of new songs. He just wrapped up his meticulous release of “I/O,” a dozen tracks that address time and mortality, while also celebrating regeneration and reconciliation.
On the album, which he released one song at a time over the past year, the artist contemplates a future of limitless information, while cherishing the very human qualities of love, belonging and compassion. It's a statement from a singer-songwriter who accepts and welcomes the lessons of age.
“There are some good things about getting older,” he said from his studio in London. “Get to know yourself better and learn to say 'no'. And learn to be more like you are.”
Gabriel, 73, agreed that making the album was a long process. “At this point in my life, I also wanted to live a little instead of just being a professional musician,” he explained. “I kept making music, but I couldn’t finish things.”
“I/O” — for “Input/Output” — is Gabriel's most recent album with two lyrics — after “So” (1986), “Us” (1992) and “Up” (2002). In the new compositions, he applies that concept to microcosms and macrocosms: to physical sensations and life cycles.
Since his time with Genesis, the pioneering progressive rock group he fronted in the '70s before going solo, Gabriel has written about speculative scenarios. And he has been fascinated by the interaction, and tension, between humanity and technology. “Everything is starting to overlap,” he said.
The songs on “I/O” had accumulated parts over the decades, with material from Gabriel's long-time group; by musician Brian Eno; of Swedish and South African choirs; of orchestral arrangements; and from Gabriel's library of samples and sessions.
Since 2022, it has practically not stopped being active. He toured in arenas. He composed songs for movies, like “Down to Earth” for “WALL-E.” He traded cover versions with other singer-songwriters on a pair of albums, “Scratch My Back” (2010) and “I'll Scratch Yours” (2013).
He also founded humanitarian organizations such as The Elders, an assembly of world leaders including Nelson Mandela and Witness, which provides technology to create videos promoting human rights.
On “I/O,” the most jubilant moments come in songs that Gabriel anticipates will be part of what he calls “The Brain Project,” a show with a speculative narrative about the mechanisms of the brain. “Road to Joy,” a follow-up to their catchy 1986 hit “Sledgehammer,” revels in the sensations that wash over someone waking up from a coma.
But on the album, exuberance is balanced by inevitable loss. The midpoint of “I/O” is “So Much,” a somber reflection on mortality accompanied by piano chords.
Gabriel doesn't anticipate another two-decade gap between albums. His “brain project” is taking shape, and “there are many things finished,” he noted. “Well, they're not finished, but I don't think it'll be 21 years before the next one.”
JON PARELES. THE NEW YORK TIMES
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/7036667, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-12-19 19:40:08
#39Everything #starting #overlap39 #famous #musician #Peter #Gabriel #returns #years