Progressive Rock
Peter Gabriel released “Face the Wall” on Saturday, the tenth track from “o\i” and a song about looking death in the face. It arrived on the night of the full moon, the calendar the record has been unfolding to all year, and only the Dark-Side Mix is out, made by Tchad Blake. The Bright-Side, by Mark “Spike” Stent, follows on the new moon of 10 October.
Tom Cawley plays piano and Tony Levin bass, with the New Blood Orchestra arranged by John Metcalfe. The cover is a work by Tadashi Kawamata, “The Nest”, photographed by Mika Huisman.
Gabriel ties the song to August’s, “Looking for the Happy”: “After last month, where we were ‘looking for the happy’, we can just follow that line all the way through and come to Face the Wall, which is looking directly in the face of death. A nice, cheerful subject.” He adds: “The lyric is partly about getting older, facing illness, and it’s looking death in the face, which I think we don’t do enough of. You never quite know when you’re in the studio whether the song is going to be a vehicle that can carry people, or not. I know this is going to speak to some people.”
“o\i” was announced on 3 January: twelve songs, one per full moon, each with two mixes, and the record revealed in full at the end of the year. “Face the Wall” leaves two still to come. No date has been announced for the complete edition.
Text by Guillem Cardós