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Peter Gabriel has announced that he will release his eleventh studio album, oi, through Real World on November 27.
The three-year gap between this and 2023’s i/o album represents the shortest between his studio albums since the early 1980s.
As he did for i/o, which forms a collaborative 25-track joint project with oi, Gabriel has been releasing single tracks every full moon for the past year, which have pondered our relationship with nature, the passing of time, the increasing influence of technology in our lives and our place in the world; “Trying to get a handle on where you fit in life, that’s what I write about a lot,” Gabriel says. “This record has been more of a marathon than a sprint – it’s the longest album I have ever put out, with 13 tracks that complete the i/o / oi 25-track joint project.
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“The songs are a mix of thoughts and feelings,” he continues. “I have been thinking about the future and how we might respond to it. We are sliding into a period of transition like no other, most likely triggered in three waves: AI, quantum computing and the brain-computer interface. Artists have a role to look into the mists and, when they catch sight of something, to hold up a mirror.
“We are not, and have never been, the exclusively self-determining, independent beings that we imagine we are. We have had a sense of entitlement that everything exists for our benefit – that we’ve been given the run of the world to exploit as we see fit.
“We are something else, a part of nature, a part of everything and when we feel that connection, shake our booty and give and receive a little love, it can help us find our proper place – and put a big smile on our faces. “This is how I see the lumpy bits – i/o: the inside has a new way out and oi: the outside has a new way in.
oi features long-standing band members, guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Manu Katché, supplemented by other members of the i/o touring band Richard Evans, Josh Shpak and Don E and Real World staffers Faye Dolle and Katie May, as well as Brian Eno, guitarists Leo Nocentelli and Tony Berg, drummer and percussionist Abe Rounds, pianist Tom Cawley, trumpeter Paolo Fresu, cellist Linnea Olsson and multi-instrumentalist Evan Smith. Once again Gabriel’s daughter Melanie provides vocal support.
oi will be available as a four-CD pack featuring both the Bright-Side mixes by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent and the Dark-Side mixes by Tchad Blake of all 13 tracks, as well as separately as double vinyl albums. The digital-only Dolby Atmos In-Side mix is again shaped by Hans-Martin Buff, who won Best Immersive Mix Engineer at the Grammys for his work on i/o.
Peter Gabiel: oi
CD | Digital
1. Been Undone
2. Put the Bucket Down
3. What Lies Ahead
4. Till Your Mind Is Shining
5. Won’t Stand Down
6. Who Are We Talking To?
7. Yes, It Will Go
8. One by One
9. A Hard Lesson
10. Face the Wall
11.I Belong to the Sky
12. Looking for the Happy
13. Sacrament
Vinyl
SIDE A
1. Been Undone
2. Put the Bucket Down
3. What Lies Ahead
4. Till Your Mind Is Shining
SIDE B
1. Won’t Stand Down
2. Who Are We Talking To?
3. Yes, It Will Go
SIDE C
1. One by One
2. A Hard Lesson
3. Face the Wall
SIDE D
1. I Belong to the Sky
2. Looking for the Happy
