Peter Gabriel

Face the
Wall

The tenth song from o\i, released on September 26 at the harvest full moon. It is about getting older, facing illness and confronting death; Gabriel notes that cultures which treat death as a normal part of life seem more at ease with it, and the closing section turns hopeful even as things get worse. This time the order was reversed: Tchad Blake’s Dark-Side Mix came first, and Mark “Spike” Stent’s Bright-Side Mix followed on October 10.

Written and produced by Peter Gabriel; orchestral arrangement by John Metcalfe with Peter Gabriel. Manu Katché (drums), Tony Levin (bass), David Rhodes (electric guitar), Tom Cawley (piano), Eliza Marshall (flute), with strings, horns and brass; percussion by Gabriel, Charles Hughes and Faye Dolle; Peter Gabriel (rhythm programming, synths, vocals). Recorded at Real World Studios, Bath, The Beehive, London, and British Grove, London; mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios. Single artwork: Tadashi Kawamata, The Nest, photographed by Mika Huisman for Amos Rex, 2022. Sources: petergabriel.com. Photograph: the Noche de Muertos on the island of Janitzio, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico, November 2, 2013, when families keep vigil with offerings for their dead, by Miguel Angel Mandujano Contreras, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons. This tinted crop is shared under the same licence.