Unmasked!
“I’M very slow finishing things!” admits Peter Gabriel. It is June and Gabriel is in London, updating Uncut on the status of his new record. He hasn’t released an album’s worth of new material since 2002’s Up, which begs the question: can we expect one any time soon? “There’s a big backlog of unfinished ideas,” he reveals. “But I’m now getting enough lyrics done – which is often where I slow down. I’m looking forward to getting an album out.”
Gabriel has hardly been idle, of course. Since Up, there have been two covers albums – 2010’s Scratch My Back and 2013’s And I’ll Scratch Yours – as well as 2011’s New Blood, where he revisited older tracks from his own catalogue, along with three full tours. His outlet for new music, meanwhile, has been via film soundtracks – a rewarding experience for Gabriel, a former film student, if perhaps a slightly frustrating one for fans who would prefer a new studio album of original music.
But for those who have followed Gabriel since the very beginning, his career path has not always appeared obvious. He has shapeshifted from Genesis’s grand vizier into aspiring songwriter for hire, idiosyncratic art-rocker, world music emissary, political activist, pop star, festival founder, digital music pioneer and beyond.
“When I was very little, my parents used to take my sister and I on holiday to Spain,” says Gabriel, looking to identify a causal moment that set him on this elaborate, winding career. “The most exciting moment was sitting beside the drummer in the hotel band. Drums seemed loud, immediate, expressive and I fell in love with rhythm, even though I wasn’t a fan of the music the band were playing. I love the interaction of live music, either creating it or playing it live.”
This month, Gabriel re-releases his soundtracks compilation Rated PG, along with vinyl debuts for four live albums stretching back to 1983. It appears to be the final leg of an extended retrospective period that has included New Blood, 25th-anniversary celebrations for his So album and a career-spanning rarities compilation, Flotsam And Jetsam. This process of reflection has allowed Gabriel to recalibrate what it means to be an artist as he moves deeper into his sixth decade in music – and better prepare him for marvellous new sonic adventures. “I look at some of my favourite songwriters and they’re doing some of their best work late in life,” he says. “If you look at what Dylan’s been putting out recently, there’s a lifetime of mastery, of words especially, being tapped into now that wouldn’t have been there as a younger man.
“I hope
