For the past several months, Peter Gabriel has been releasing tracks off his forthcoming album, i/o, on every full moon. He has categorized each as a Bright-Side and Dark-Side mix and is continuing the trend with his sixth, brighter, track “Road to Joy.”
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Part of the Bright-Side Mix by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, “Road to Joy,” co-produced by Gabriel and Brian Eno, features a collective of musicians, including a string arrangement from John Metcalfe and contributions from members of Gabriel’s current touring band, and the Soweto Gospel Choir, along with long-time collaborators guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin, and drummer Manu Katché with newcomers Don E. on bass and trumpeter Josh Shpak.
Recorded at Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, England, The Beehive and British Grove in London, and High Seas Studios, South Africa, the origins of “Road to Joy” came from an earlier project Gabriel had been working on.
“It was actually very late in the record that we got to this,” said Gabriel of the track, in a statement. “There had been a song that musically I’d started, I think, around the ‘OVO’ project, called ‘Pukka.’ It was very different to this, but it was actually the starting point for coming back to this song. I just felt there was a good groove there, and I wanted something else with rhythm and so we tried a few things when I was working with Brian Eno.”
He continued, “The excitement and energy in the song was something that I was getting off on. I felt we didn’t have enough of that for this record.”
When describing the synopsis of the song, Gabriel said it’s a “story focused around the brain and how we perceive things and this song connects to that.” He added, “It deals with near-death experiences and locked-in syndrome situations where people are unable to communicate or to move. It’s an amazingly frustrating condition. There have been some great books and films about this subject, but at this point in our story, the people looking after our hero manage to find a way to wake him up. So, it’s a lyric about coming back into your senses, back to life, back into the world.”
Along with the release of the single, Gabriel is showcasing the work of Chinese contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei. His piece titled “Middle Finger in Pink” has been used as the cover art for “Road to Joy.”
“I’m a big fan of Ai Weiwei, both as an artist, as a designer, and as a human rights campaigner,” shared Gabriel. “He’s an incredibly brave man and regularly risks the wrath of the Chinese government. But his work is exceptional, often political, and quite extraordinary.”
Gabriel revealed that at first when he approached WeiWei, he had no idea who he was and had to work at convincing him to collaborate on the project. “It was an uphill battle at first, but he was open to talking and we got to know each other and hang out a little bit,” said Gabriel. “I was delighted when he agreed to be a part of the i/o project and generously sent us three designs. He has this middle finger image that he uses a lot in his work, and it is often directed to those in power.”
He added, “He’s definitely been at the root end of power, as his father was before him. So that’s an important symbol for him and I guess in the context of the story I am now working on, death is the dominant power, and the hero is coming back to life and raising his finger to death.”
Following suit with his previous i/o releases, “Road to Joy” will also be released as a Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake, along with an Atmos mix by Hans-Martin Buff, in late June.
Gabriel is currently on the European leg of his tour, which will conclude on June 25 in Dublin. He will continue with a North American tour for i/o, which will kick off on Sept. 8 in Quebec, Canada before wrapping up on Oct. 21 in Houston, Texas.
Photo by Phillip Massey/WireImage
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