Peter Gabriel reveals rousing title track of upcoming album i/o

(Image credit: Nadav Kander)

With a new full moon, so we get a brand new Peter Gabriel single, this time for the rousing title track of his upcoming album i/o, which you can listen to below.

"This month the song is i/o and i/o means input / output," Gabriel explains. "You see it on the back of a lot of electrical equipment and it just triggered some ideas about the stuff we put in and pull out of ourselves, in physical and non-physical ways. That was the starting point of this idea and then trying to talk about the interconnectedness of everything.

"The older I get, I probably don't get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole. If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there's something to learn?"

i/o sees Gabriel working with the Soweto Gospel Choir, who previously featured on the song Down To Earth, recorded for the film Wall-E. He’s also performed with the choir in South Africa at events for Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

"I didn't always hear the Soweto Gospel Choir on this song, but every time I've worked with them it's always been fantastic," he adds. "You can just feel the energy whenever they sing on this record, and on the song I did for Wall-E, it's just joyous. It hits you in the heart."

The title i/o has long been associated with a new potential new Peter Gabriel album amongst Gabriel fans

“It's been around for a long time as a title for this project. I always knew I was going to write a song called i/o, but the title came first," he says.

As with Gabriel's the previous full moon releases, i/o will come with differing mix approaches from Mark ‘Spike’ Stent (Bright-Side Mix), released on 6 April. Tchad Blake (Dark-Side Mix) and Hans-Martin Buff’s Atmos mix (In-Side Mix), released later in the month.

Gabriel has this far streamed new songs Panopticom, The Court and Playing For Time.

Gabriel will tour both Europe and North America later this year. Full dates below.

Peter Gabriel i/o Tour 2023

May 18: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
May 20: Verona Arena, Italy
May 21: Milan Mediolanum Arena, Italy
May 23: Paris AccorHotels Arena, France
May 24: Lille Stade Pierre-Mauroy, France
May 26: Berlin Waldbuehne, Germany
May 28: Munich Koenigsplatz, Germany
May 30: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
May 31: Stockholm Avicii Arena, Sweden
Jun 02: Bergen Koengen, Norway
Jun 05: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Jun 06: Antwerp Sportpaleis, Belgium
Jun 08: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Jun 10: Cologne Lanxess Arena, Germany
Jun 12: Hamburg Barclays Arena, Germany
Jun 13: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Jun 15: Bordeaux Arkea Arena, France
Jun 17: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK
Jun 19: London The O2, UK
Jun 22: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK
Jun 23: Manchester AO Arena, UK
Jun 25: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland

Sep 08: Quebec City Videotron Centre, QC
Sep 09: Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre, ON
Sep 11: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Sep 13: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Sep 14: Boston TD Garden, MA
Sep 16: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Sep 18: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Sep 20: Washington Capital One Arena, DC
Sep 22: Buffalo KeyBank Center, NY
Sep 23: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Sep 25: Columbus Nationwide Arena, OH
Sep 27: Cleveland Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, OH
Sep 29: Detroit Caesars Arena , MI
Sep 30: Chicago United Center, IL
Oct 02: Milwaukee Fiserv Forum, WI
Oct 03: St. Paul Excel Energy Center, MN
Oct 07: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Oct 08: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Oct 11: San Francisco Chase Center, CA
Oct 13: Los Angeles Kia Forum, CA
Oct 14: Palm Springs Acrisure Arena, CA
Oct 16: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Oct 18: Austin Moody Center, TX
Oct 19: Dallas American Airlines Center, TX
Oct 21: Houston Toyota Center, TX

Tickets are on sale now.

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.