Peter Gabriel recently announced that he will release his latest studio album, o\i, on November 27 through his Real World label.
And he's just shared the latest single from what will be his eleventh studio album, Who Are We Talking To?.
"Who Are We Talking To? was conceived as something that might encourage activism," Gabriel reveals. "It might be naive, but I still believe that people have real power for change if they can get together in large enough numbers. Politicians will respond - democracy or not.
“My hope is that we start thinking of ourselves as global citizens and that we work together to bring about change on a global scale. These issues that we're looking at, whether it's climate change, AI, pandemics… these are all things that can’t be effectively dealt with on a national level - only globally. A country can have all the bright intentions that it wants, but it's pretty meaningless unless we have everyone working on it at the same time.
“Many people feel powerless, oppressed and scared at the increasing divisions in the world. At the same time, I would argue that those all-powerful nations that think they are invincible are actually totally vulnerable now. Everybody's hackable. I think we're learning that with the right AI, and once we get quantum computing cutting through cyber security, we're all open to attack and the only sensible course of action would, of course, be to work together.
“I really want to see big popular movements that are not about dividing us, with immigration, into them and us, but just the whole messy mass of humanity working together to deal with the things that may very well destroy us soon if we don't. So, this song is a plea for activism."
The art that accompanies Gabriel's latest single is Bloques by Spanish artist Juan Genovés.
“The artwork this month is by a Spanish artist called Juan Genovés and this piece Bloques," Gabriel adds. "When I saw it I felt it hit the spot. Somehow, like many of the images across the album, it beautifully illustrates some of the ideas within the music. His thoughts on political oppression and resistance show lots of little people standing against these big geometric environments.
“I imagine the title Bloques refers to these big physical blocks within the painting that seem to represent the barriers that divide people and make it harder for them to come together. I think he believed that these blocks were a power, a force, which could be employed for good or for evil - so appropriate for this song.”
o\i 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.
