Peter Gabriel has unveiled the first track from his forthcoming new album. ‘Panopticom‘ is taken from i/o, which will be Gabriel’s first studio album of new material since the release of Up, released in 2002.
The single was written and produced by Peter Gabriel, and was recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and The Beehive in London. Although a tracklisting has yet to be revealed for the album, Gabriel had this to say about ‘Panopticon‘:
The first song is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom. We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what’s really going on.’
It is planned that each new song will be revealed on the full moon. Gabriel explained:
‘Some of what I’m writing about this time is the idea that we seem incredibly capable of destroying the planet that gave us birth and that unless we find ways to reconnect ourselves to nature and to the natural world we are going to lose a lot. A simple way of thinking about where we fit in to all of this is looking up at the sky… and the moon has always drawn me to it.’
Each new release of music will come with a specific piece of art and ‘Panopticom‘ features the work ‘Red Gravity‘ by artist David Springs:
‘It was the theme of surveillance that connected me with the work of David Spriggs because he’d done a piece relating to that. David does this amazing stuff using many layers of transparencies so you get these strange creations with a real intensity to them. Part of what he does is imagine what art might look like a few years in the future and then try and create accordingly and I think he’s done that very successfully in this particular piece.’
The track may be heard below:
The European leg of the i/o tour will take place in May and June this year, with North American dates expected to be announced soon. The British Isles dates are as follows:
JUNE
17 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
19 – The O2, London
22 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
23 – AO Arena, Manchester
25 – 3Arena, Dublin
Tickets for the European dates are on sale here
