Sunday, 1 February, 2026 – the snow full moon heralds the arrival of Put the Bucket Down, the second track from Peter Gabriel’s forthcoming album o\i.
Put the Bucket Down was written and produced by Peter Gabriel and the first version to be heard is the Bright-Side Mix by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent.
With it’s shuffle-groove and infectiously catchy hook and chorus Put the Bucket Down conjures dream-like imagery of mind reading, thought reading and thought writing – all of which are possible through the brain / computer interface. The character singing is getting very confused …
“As a side project, I am working on a show with the brain as the central core and there are a number of songs, some on i/o and some on o\i that will be part of that. This is one of those and it’s a point in the narrative where we can both read and write thoughts and the person singing is not sure whether he has his own thoughts or not. Is he inside his own mind or inside someone else’s?
The ‘bucket’ is all the crap that goes around our head all the time, so it is putting the bucket down to find your way forward…”
“I started building rhythmic elements around, what I call a lop-sided loop and got quite excited. When we had the band play it, it really came to life so that feels good for me. The band and me working away is the bulk of the song, but when we were in the orchestral sessions I asked John Metcalfe to come up with a part – it was scribbled out on the day in the studio – which is ridiculously simple, but it serves the song nicely.
We’re also blessed with horn players. I was very lucky on the last record to play with Paolo Fresu and then Josh Shpak on the tour and they’ve both done a version of the instrumental melody on this too.”
This month’s art comes from Tomás Saraceno and three different type of spiders, Cyrtophora citricola, Nephila senegalensis and Holocnemus pluchei. The work is called Cosmic Spider/Web.
“I’m delighted this month that we have an artwork created by Tomás Saraceno and 12 spiders who are credited with authorship on this. He’s a really interesting artist and his Aerocene project was the first thing that I came across.
This work, integrating with nature and co-creating with spiders, is fascinating. I think it’s a beautiful thing and somehow there seems to be a connection with webs and nature and the brain so, for me, it fits right in. In this case, Tomás heard the music and chose this image as something that he thought was appropriate. Thank you to Tomás and his team and please check out what he does.”
Seeing spiders not as threats, but as oracles, architects, even guardians underpin Arachnophilia, the project-community founded by Tomás Saraceno. Emerging from Arachnophilia’s decades-long engagement and collaboration with spider/webs as living instruments – ones that listen, vibrate, and respond to their environment – Cosmic Spider/Web is a record of coexistence.
Tchad Blake’s Dark-Side Mix of Put the Bucket Down will be released later in the month, on the new moon.