The concept behind Peter Gabriel’s first album of original material in 21 years, i/o, feels strikingly contemporary. Over the last year, the veteran singer-songwriter has dropped a new song each month, touring arenas leading up to the album’s release. With each song being made available in a “Bright-Side” mix, “Dark-Side” mix, and a third Dolby Atmos “In-Side” mix, i/o effectively allows listeners to pick their favorites among the different versions and create their own playlist.
While the bones of the songs are taken from the exact same performances, the mixes feature major differences in their musical emphasis. For one, the “Bright Side” mix of “Panopticom” puts acoustic guitar at the forefront, while the instrument is barely heard in the “Dark Side Mix.” The former delivers a more potent version of the song, leaning into Gabriel’s penchant for grand statements, with sweeping, warm strings and piano.
The songs can be easily slotted into Gabriel’s familiar modes, including piano ballads and funk-influenced pop. At worst, he repeats himself: The horns on “Olive Tree” recycle similar sounds from “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time,” and one of the album’s best songs, “Road to Joy,” similarly feels like a hit from his heyday, with a swirling synth hook. Gabriel’s ballads lean toward bombast as well, even when they begin sparingly, as “So Much” and “Love Can Heal” do.
Gabriel made his mark as a solo artist with songs about the apocalypse (“Here Comes the Flood”), war (“Games Without Frontiers”), and assassinations (“Family Snapshot” and “Biko”), and this tendency toward the political persists on i/o. “Panopticom” confronts our surveillance culture, its title referring to the ability to observe a world where facts are difficult to determine.
While the “Bright Side” mixes bring out the album’s more dynamic range, the lyrics lack the edge of Gabriel’s early music. The earnest perspectives of songs like “Love Can Heal” and “Live and Let Live” are apparent right from their titles, with the latter in particular succumbing to cliché. And the more subdued “Dark Side” mixes only highlight those flaws. i/o is heartfelt and meticulously crafted, but its impact is muted by its splintered presentation.
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