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Mar 05, 2026 By Mark Redfern Photography by Nadav Kander

Peter Gabriel is releasing a new album, o/i, later this year via Real World (the exact release date is TBA). Now he has shared its third single, “What Lies Ahead.” Similar to his 2023 album, i/o, each single from the album will be released on days with full moons and there will be “Bright-Side” and “Dark-Side” mixes for each song on the album. This is the “Bright-Side Mix” of “What Lies Ahead.” Listen below.

Gabriel had this to say about the song in a press release: “On the Back to Front tour, along with Playing for Time, it was one of the songs that was played without words, as a work in progress. The song actually began with a melody that my son Isaac was playing with and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s really nice—I could build that into something.’

“On that tour, we had our wonderful Scandinavian contingent of Jennie Abrahamson and

Linnea Olsson who was also playing cello. I’d always liked Linnea’s cello line so it ended up on this final recording. John Metcalfe added some other elements for the orchestral sessions in 2022.

“There is also more of the magnificent Orphei Drängar choir, another Scandinavian element, who also featured on ‘This Is Home’ on the i/o record. It’s a very strange mood that they create, powerful and emotional and it’s a great way to start a song—which was Brian Eno’s suggestion. 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. 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…

“It’s a song 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.”

As with i/o, for each single from the album, Gabriel will be working with a different artist to do the cover artwork. Birth Tear / Tear by Judy Chicago from 1982 forms the single cover artwork for “What Lies Ahead.”

Gabriel says: “This month’s artwork is from the legendary feminist artist, Judy Chicago. Birth Tear / Tear shows the pain of birth and, clearly, no man will ever have an understanding of what that really is, but giving birth to an idea has many (less painful) parallels. I’m delighted that she was happy to let us use it.

“Judy Chicago employed over 150 people working on her designs from 1980-1985, all on the subject of birth as she felt that Western culture had not really tackled birth as a proper subject matter. This particular design was embroidered by Jane Thompson in Houston, Texas and it’s a really strong piece.

“There’s a wonderful quote where she said that ‘truth can be found in the ignored, the forgotten, and the left out,’ and it reminds me a little bit of a Gaetano Pesce quote, ‘that beauty in the future will lie in the imperfection,’ particularly in this robotic AI world in which we are now entering. It seems our society is backing away from open-minded thinking. The creative arts and universities too, have been preserves for exploring ideas and debate and I hate the moves toward shutting all that down.”

The new album was recorded at Real World Studios, Bath and The Beehive in London. Tchad Blake and Mark ‘Spike’ Stent will be mixing all the songs, taking on the Dark-Side and Bright-Side respectively.

Previously Gabriel shared the album’s first single, “Been Undone,” the “Dark-Side” mix of the song. Then he shared its second single, “Put the Bucket Down,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

I/o was his first album of original songs in over 20 years. Prior to i/o, 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.

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

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