Hear Peter Gabriel’s New Song, ‘I Belong to the Sky’

Peter Gabriel has released another new song from his o\i album, titled "I Belong to the Sky."

According to Gabriel himself, this song was originally considered for his most recent album, i/o, but wasn't fully finished until now. In a statement, the singer said that "it was always one of my favorites."

You can listen to "I Belong to the Sky" below.

"The starting point of the song was the timpani tom-tom pattern which was inspired by an old film called Jazz on a Summer's Day which featured a wonderful drummer called Chico Hamilton," Gabriel continued. "I think he was the pioneer of the use of timpani sticks on the toms and I always loved that sound; calm and hypnotic. It set a really strong mood for me and the song grew up around it.

"I'm a strong believer that reality is more malleable than we imagine and that if you really make strong pictures of something happening, you really affect the chances of it materializing. Visualizing...how dreams leave their nest, is the main topic of the song."

The Artwork for 'I Belong to the Sky'

The artwork that accompanies "I Belong to the Sky" is called "Nimbus de Toekomst 1, 2019" by Berndnaut Smilde

"I loved this image of the sky," Gabriel explained. "The cloud brought inside — that mixture of outside and interior worlds. I think that's what the song is all about. This mix between the interior and the exterior and the transition between them. So, I was very happy that we were allowed to use this image."

Peter Gabriel's Previous Releases

As he has been doing now for several months, "I Belong to the Sky" arrives on a full moon. Before this track, Gabriel already released six others: "A Hard Lesson," "Won't Stand Down," "Till Your Mind Is Shining," "What Lies Ahead," "Put Down the Bucket" and "Been Undone."

Each song has “Dark-Side” and “Bright-Side” mixes, with the second mixes arriving during each month’s new moon, the same pattern Gabriel followed with his previous album.

"I have been thinking about the future and how we might respond to it," Gabriel explained of o\i in an earlier press release. "We are sliding into a period of transition like no other, most likely triggered in three waves: AI, quantum computing and the brain computer interface. Artists have a role to look into the mists and, when they catch sight of something, to hold up a mirror. These are my lumpy bits – i/o: the inside has a new way out and o\i: the outside has a new way in."

Hear Peter Gabriel Perform 'I Belong to the Sky'