In a statement on his website, Gabriel announced: 

“After a years-worth of full moon releases, I’m very happy to see all these new songs back together on the good ship i/o and ready for their journey out into the world.”

With “full moon releases”, the former Genesis frontman is referring to his unconventional album roll-out plan, which involved releasing a new single on the occasion of every full moon in 2023. On top of that, Gabriel gave fans the option between “bright” and “dark” side mixes of the respective songs.  

Listen to the “bright-side” version of the upcoming album’s title track:

The majority of i/o was recorded at Real World Studios in Bath, England and Gabriel’s home studio. Furthermore, a plethora of musicians and producers contributed to the record, including longtime collaborators Brian Eno, guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Manu Katché. The Soweto Gospel Choir, Swedish all-male choir Oprhei Drängar and the New Blood Orchestra also feature.

A press release on Gabriel’s official website details the upcoming LP’s concept and themes as follows: 

“Throughout the album the intelligent and thoughtful – often thought-provoking – songs tackle life and the universe. Our connection to the world around us […] is a recurring motif, but so too the passing of time, mortality and grief, alongside such themes as injustice, surveillance and the roots of terrorism.“ 

“But this is not a solemn record. While reflective, the mood is never despondent; i/o is musically adventurous, often joyous and ultimately full of hope […]”

Listen to the “dark-side” mix of Gabriel’s most recent single “This Is Home”:

To complement these themes, and building upon an idea initially developed in his Us and Up albums, Gabriel has invited a host of visual artists to create a piece of art to accompany each of the twelve songs on the new record – be it through painting, photography, sculpture or even plasticine. The dozen artists include Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson and perhaps more surprisingly, Nick Cave.

Meanwhile, Gabriel still has a few more dates left on his North American tour which ends on October 21, but so far, he hasn’t made any plans to retire from recording or touring.

Pre-order i/o here.

The docufilm, named after one of Bowie’s most beloved songs “Moonage Daydream”, was written, directed and proudly produced by the reputable and Emmy-winning filmmaker, Brett Morgen. Well known for making a documentary about Kurt Cobain back in 2015 (Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck).

In the making of Bowie’s film, he partakes fondly in to the singer’s life in order to uncover the highlights of his musical career. He manages to show the unthinkable endeavours the singer brought to the history of what defines our music today. Bringing unseen footage to the table, Morgen highlights the popstars personal stories and achievements – as well as talents – involving dance, painting, singing, sculpture, acting, writing and many more of his endless creative boundaries.

Morgen was granted full access to his personal archives and endless amounts of footage thanks to the permission of Bowie’s family. This biopsy allowed the filmmaker to retrieve golden material to carve into a valuable sculpture of a film. This included mastered recordings of the musician’s songs as well as hours of his live performances in need to be unveiled.

Bowie had a lifelong collaborator. A musician and sound genius who helped him with the production and sound arrangement of some of his albums named Tony Visconti. He makes an appearance within the making of his film. He adopted the role of music producer for the entirety of the project which includes a 40-song soundtrack of his original material.

The first release of the documentary was in September last year (2022) and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It received a great amount of critical acclaim and was voted one of the best documentaries of the year. Officially, it won the WGA Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, CAS for Best Sound Mix Documentary, the MPSE Award for Best Music Editing and was even nominated in a BAFTA for Best Documentary.

“My films are not about presenting facts and information, but trying to present the subjects in a uniquely-cinematic manner,” says Morgen. “I aim to create what you can’t get from a book.” And a mystical cinematic masterpiece was very much achieved. Because the singer was no ordinary pop star, so his documentary didn’t deserve to default to an ordinary film piece.