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Jul 06, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Nadav Kander

Peter Gabriel has shared a new song, “So Much.” It is the latest single from Gabriel’s forthcoming new album, i/o, which will be his first album of original songs in over 20 years. The album’s exact release date has yet to be announced. “So Much” was first shared by Gabriel back on Monday (July 3), when we were taking a long weekend break from news, so we are posting it now. Check it out below.

Gabriel wrote and produced “So Much,” which he describes in a press release as “a simple song.” John Metcalfe arranged the song’s strings and “So Much” also features Tony Levin on bass, David Rhodes on guitar, and backing vocals from Gabriel’s daughter, Melanie Gabriel.

“I was trying purposefully not to be clever with this,” says Gabriel of the song. “I wanted to get a very simple chorus but one which still had some substance to the harmony and melody. Something that was easy to digest but still had a bit of character to it.

“‘So Much’ is about mortality, getting old, all the bright, cheerful subjects, but I think when you get to my sort of age, you either run away from mortality or you jump into it and try and live life to the full and that always seems to make a lot more sense to me. The countries that seem most alive are those that have death as part of their culture.”

Of the song’s title, Gabriel adds: “The reason I chose ‘So Much’ as a title is because I’m addicted to new ideas and all sorts of projects. I get excited by things and want to jump around and do different things. I love being in a mess of so much! And yet it also means there’s just so much time, or whatever it is, available. Balancing them both is what the song is about.”

For each single from the album, Gabriel is working with a different artist to do the cover artwork. Henry Hudson and his work “Somewhere Over Mercia” forms the single cover artwork for “So Much.”
Gabriel says: “I started looking at Henry’s work and thought it was great. He’s done some dense and intricate work with plasticine, but then he also has this other more expressionist, horizon work with different colors and they’re very simple and pure. I connected quite strongly with him.

“The works where Henry’s got horizons are minimalist in a way. They are quite layered and there’s a physicality or three-dimensional element to the way he puts the work together. The idea of cutting the horizon in a different color, in this case he wanted it to be yellow, and then effectively letting it bleed onto the painting I thought was beautiful and powerful. In the one sense, the horizon is the infinite but it’s also the limit. It had some good symbolism. I think it’s a great piece of work.”

Hudson also had this to add: “There’s a universalness about the song. I think the relationship between that song and my horizon lines are quite poignant—dealing with our understanding of what time is, dealing with voids or horizons or places that can appear to be closer or further away.”

Previously Gabriel shared the album’s first single, “Panopticom,” which featured Brian Eno and was one of our Songs of the Week. That was followed by its second single, “The Court.” Then the album’s third single was “Playing For Time.”The fourth single was the album’s title track, “i/o.” The album’s fifth single was “Four Kinds of Horses,” which also made our Songs of the Week list. “Road to Joy” was the album’s sixth single and it also made our Songs of the Week list.

Gabriel’s last full-length album of original materials was 2002’s Up, although in 2010 he released the Scratch My Back covers album and in 2011 he released New Blood, which featured orchestral re-recordings of songs from across Gabriel’s career. Gabriel’s last full tour was 2014’s Back to Front Tour, which celebrated his classic 1986 album So.

The new tour will feature Gabriel’s regular band-mates Tony Levin, David Rhodes, and Manu Katché and will include songs from i/o, as well as ones across his back catalogue.

Also read our previous interview between Gabriel and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry.

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