Peter Gabriel
Bath, United Kingdom8 reviews across 6 releases
Peter Gabriel is an English solo artist who emerged from the progressive rock group Genesis, formed at Charterhouse School in Surrey in 1967. He left Genesis in 1975 and developed a solo sound that joined art rock to pop songwriting, electronic production, prominent percussion and musical ideas drawn from outside Britain. The 1986 So placed those interests in a more accessible setting, balancing synthesizers and world-music textures with songs about faith, sex and consolation. Us turned inward, focusing on love, loss and damaged relationships while retaining African rhythms and unusual vocal colors. By Up, Gabriel was working with longer forms, dense electronic sound and darker subjects, especially fear, grief and mortality. His interest in international music also shaped Real World Records, founded in 1989.
In 1982, Gabriel co-founded the WOMAD festival, extending his work beyond his own records and performances. He later used film and theatrical projects to pursue the same mixture of rhythm, atmosphere and narrative, including the Millennium Dome production that produced Ovo and the soundtrack for Rabbit-Proof Fence. His solo releases became increasingly infrequent after Up, but he continued recording, revisiting earlier material through orchestral projects and touring. In 2023, he released i/o, his first album of new original songs since 2002, after introducing its songs individually during the preceding year. Gabriel remains active as a musician, performer and director of Real World Records.
6 releases reviewed
Us
OVO: The Millennium Show
Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence
