Review: Peter Gabriel’s long-awaited album “i/o”

After a 21-year wait, the legendary artist and ex-Genesis member Peter Gabriel has finally released new musical material. Since the beginning of the previous year, 2023, Peter released one song digitally every Full Moon, with its alternative mix released on the following new moon. This continued until December 1st when the official album “i/o” was released. The album, in total, has 12 original songs, each with two different mixes.

I find this absolutely interesting; composers and producers are perfectionists in a sick way. Just talking about mixing and mastering, producers present curious obsessive behavior like “trying the product” in cars, cell phones, and all kinds of crappy sound devices to ensure that the song is perfect EVERYWHERE! And after tweaking the same finished material, it never feels perfect. Because of this, many times in my own career as a composer, I faced the dilemma of choosing between two or three final mixes, seeking opinions from my team before making a decision or sending the result to the client. However, Gabriel here makes a smarter choice than most of us: In the album, he offers two different mixes of each song, and the listener is free to choose whichever version suits better. Beautiful!

Not content with just that, he is also releasing a third mix, the “Inside Mix,” engineered to be played in Dolby Atmos equipment.

The music in the album offers a good dose of danceable, humming, pop earworms, very characteristic of the Genesis late period and previous works from Peter Gabriel. However, I feel the album shines in its most melancholic, quiet, and intimate songs. A personal favorite is “Love Heals,” which begins with a simple but atmospheric G minor ostinato. The atmosphere gains more weight with the entrance of the cellos and the melodic lines of Peter Gabriel´s voice. The ostinato never stops, even in the choruses and bridges. However, after a while, the music suddenly changes its color with a beautiful chromatic movement in the piano from D to a natural E, giving a beautiful Dorian when combined with the G minor ostinato. Aeolian and Dorian, Two shades of melancholy in a song that talks about returning to the womb of our mothers.

“Olive Tree” gives us that pop-rock flavor Gabriel had us accustomed to in his last years with Genesis and the beginning of his solo career, while “Four Kind Horses” is reminiscent of his 2011 release, “New Blood” – more wild, obscure, and visceral.

This is an artist who doesn’t need further presentation! Let’s give a warm welcome back to Peter Gabriel with an album I believe will not disappoint anybody!