After 21 years without a single studio album, Peter Gabriel released I/O, the tenth and longest album of his career. Released on Friday, Dec. 1, it was a culmination of 28 years of work by Gabriel. The album has recieved many positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
Over the past year, Gabriel put out a song from the album each full moon, and another mixing off it each new moon. Although this is his second time releasing music in this lunar based format, each song received three completely different mixes:the Dark-side, Bright-side and In-side mixes, mixed by Tchad Blake, Mark “Spike” Stent and Hans-Martin Buff respectively. The dark and bright-side mixes were released together in the 24 song, two plus hour main album, while the in-side mix was released separately. Gabriel also hired 12 artists to make visual interpretations of the songs on the album.
Originally intended to release back in 2004, I/O has had an extremely troubled production history. Gabriel still had 130 songs in various stages of completion after his most recent studio album before I/O, Up. Gabriel had meant to release a handful of these songs as a followup album, but the project got left on the wayside because of his packed touring schedule. By 2005, the pool of songs had ballooned to 150. Over the next eight years, he reduced the list down to just 20 and even began to perform some of the songs that would eventually end up on I/O. After a hiatus in 2019, Gabriel finally got to work recording the album.
I/O released and received mostly positive reviews from critics and fans alike. Music review magazine, Rolling Stone, gave the album a four out of five stars, while Pitchfork gave it a 7.4 on a 10 point scale. Review aggregator, Metacritic, awarded Gabriel an 86 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews. Music fans on Rate Your Music gave Gabriel’s album 3.82 stars, the highest rating Gabriel has had on the site since 1989’s Passion, his fourth highest rated album ever. Some companies, such as Slant magazine, were not as head over heels in love with I/O as many others have been, only giving in a 3 out of 5 star review. The magazine was especially unimpressed by the production of the album.
“I/O is heartfelt and meticulously crafted, but its impact is muted by its splintered presentation.” Slant Magazine reviewer Steve Erickson said.
With the release of I/O and the leadup to his tour for the album, 2023 has been an exciting year for Gabriel’s fans. I/O’s meticulous song choice and production has let it cement its place as one of the top albums of the year.
