"The ‘bucket’ is all the crap that goes around our head all the time." Peter Gabriel shares new single Put The Bucket Down

Peter Gabriel and band at Real World Studios — (Image credit: York Tillyer)

Peter Gabriel has shared a second new single, Put The Bucket Down. It follows the announcement last month, with the release of Been Undone and the news that he will be releasing a new album, o\i.

As with 2023's i/o album Gabriel will be releasing tracks on every full moon ahead of the new album's release. Again, there will be both Dark-Side and Bright-Side mixes, handled once again by Tchad Blake and Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, respectively.

“As a side project, I am working on a show with the brain as the central core and there are a number of songs, some on i/o and some on o\i that will be part of that," Gabriel explains. "This is one of those and it's a point in the narrative where we can both read and write thoughts and the person singing is not sure whether he has his own thoughts or not. Is he inside his own mind or inside someone else's?

"The ‘bucket’ is all the crap that goes around our head all the time, so it is putting the bucket down to find your way forward… I started building rhythmic elements around, what I call, a lop-sided loop, and got quite excited. When we had the band play it, it really came to life so that feels good for me. The band and me working away is the bulk of the song, but when we were in the orchestral sessions, I asked John Metcalfe to come up with a part - it was scribbled out on the day in the studio – which is ridiculously simple, but it serves the song nicely.

"We're also blessed with horn players. I was very lucky on the last record to play with Paolo Fresu and then Josh Shpack on the tour and they've both done a version of the instrumental melody on this too.”

Also as with the i/o singles, each new Gabriel single is accompanied by a new piece of art, which you can see below the video. For Put The Bucket Down Tomás Saraceno's art features three different type of spiders, Cyrtophora citricola or Tropical Tent-Web spider, Nephila senegalensis (banded-legged golden orb-web spider) and Holocnemus pluchei (marbled cellar spider). The work is called Cosmic Spider/Web.

“I'm delighted this month that we have an artwork created by Tomás Saraceno and 12 spiders who are credited with authorship on this," Gabriel adds. "He's a really interesting artist and his Aerocene project was the first thing that I came across.

"This work, integrating with nature and co-creating with spiders is fascinating. I think it's a beautiful thing and somehow there seems to be a connection with webs and nature and the brain, so for me, it fits right in. In this case, Tomás heard the music and chose this image as something that he thought was appropriate. Thank you to Tomás and his team and please check out what he does.”

Tchad Blake’s Dark-Side Mix of Put The Bucket Down will be released later in the month, on the new moon.

Further details on the release plans for the full album through Real World will follow.

Peter Gabriel - Put the Bucket Down (Bright-Side Mix) - YouTube

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Peter Gabriel Put The Bucket Down cover art — (Image credit: Tomás Saraceno)

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.

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