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Coinciding with today’s blood/worm moon, signifying the end of winter and the beginning of spring, Peter Gabriel is looking forward to “What Lies Ahead” with the latest single from his upcoming album, o/i. Stream it below.
Beginning with calming chants, “What Lies Ahead” is a deliberate meditative track buoyed by the string section. “You see the world now all connected,” Gabriel sings. “Flowing as a brain/ You see the world the way it will be/ Unfolding in your hands.”
As Gabriel explained in a press statement, he first performed “What Lies Ahead” without words, as a work in progress, on his “Back to Front” tour more than a decade ago. Featuring the Scandinavian choir, Orphei Drängar, the track was built atop a melody made by Gabriel’s son, Isaac, and also includes contributions from Jennie Abrahamson, cellist Linnea Olsson, and more orchestral elements from John Metcalfe.
According to Gabriel, his friend Brian Eno suggested starting the song with the choir. “I’ve always liked spiritual, inspirational music because sometimes people get to a different place when they remove themselves and are just present with this feeling of something else out there,” he said. “Although I’m not religious myself, I definitely have the feeling for it and that’s what I was hoping we would have with the choir at the front, that you go straight away into this other world.”
He continued by explaining that “What Lies Ahead” is about “inventors and invention. My dad was an electrical engineer, inventor and I saw him go through the frustrations of not only trying to realize an idea, which has to normally go through so many iterations, but then to sell it, both to the people who’ve got the money and then to the outside world. So, I’ve always been curious about the creative process and how that applies to inventors.”
The track is accompanied by Judy Chicago’s 1982 artwork “Birth Tear / Tear.” This “Bright-Side Mix” by Mark “Spike” Stent will be followed by Tchad Blake’s “Dark-Side Mix” of “Put the Bucket Down” to coincide with a new moon later this month.
o/i is the follow-up to Gabriel’s 2023 comeback album, i/o, which marked his first new album in 12 years.
“What Lies Ahead” Artwork:
English (US) · 