Peter Gabriel

What Lies
Ahead

The third song from o\i is about inventors – the long work of bringing an idea into the world, and the harder work of selling it. Gabriel drew on his father, an electrical engineer and inventor; the tune grew from a melody his son Isaac was playing, and at Brian Eno’s suggestion the Swedish male choir Orphei Drängar opens it. Mark “Spike” Stent’s Bright-Side Mix came first, at the full moon on March 3; Tchad Blake’s Dark-Side Mix followed at the new moon.

Words and music by Peter Gabriel; produced by Peter Gabriel. Orchestral arrangement by John Metcalfe with Peter Gabriel; choir arrangement by Dom Shaw with Peter Gabriel and Cecilia Rydinger. Recorded at Real World Studios, Bath; The Beehive and British Grove, London; ArteSuono, Cavalicco; Alfvénsalen, Uppsala; and Rexall Place, Edmonton. Peter Gabriel: vocals; Tony Levin: bass; Paolo Fresu: trumpet; Linnea Olsson: cello; New Blood Orchestra; Orphei Drängar. Bright-Side Mix by Mark “Spike” Stent; Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake; mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. Real World Records. Artwork for the single: Judy Chicago, Birth Tear / Tear, 1982, embroidered by Jane Thompson. Photograph: Dickenson V. Alley, Nikola Tesla in his laboratory at Colorado Springs, December 1899, double exposure; the print is inscribed by Tesla to Sir William Crookes, 1901. Wellcome Collection, London.