Panopticom

Panopticom is the first new song from the album i/o. The track is accompanied by a cover image by the artist David Spriggs.

Written and produced by Peter Gabriel, Panopticom was recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and The Beehive in London.

The Bright-Side Mix of the song was released on the first full moon of 2023 and has been mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent. The Dark-Side Mix, released on the new moon of 21 January, is mixed by Tchad Blake and the 3D Atmos In-Side mix, by Hans-Martin Buff, released a week later on 28 January.

‘The first song is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom,’ says Gabriel. ‘We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what’s really going on.’

For a fuller explanation of The Panopticom see the FOCUS article here

Musically, Panopticom drives along powered by the engine-room of long-time collaborators Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katché, underpinned by haunting electronics from Brian Eno. Additional backing vocals from Ríoghnach Connolly of The Breath. The lyric is, in part, inspired by the extraordinary work of three groups, Forensic Architecture, Bellingcat and the Gabriel co-founded pioneering human rights organisation WITNESS.

Peter Gabriel photographed by Nadav Kander in London, December 2022.

Each new release of music will come with a specific piece of art, ‘we’ve been looking at the work of many hundreds of artists,’ says Peter and for Panopticom the cover image is a piece called ‘Red Gravity’ by David Spriggs.

‘It was the theme of surveillance that connected me with the work of David Spriggs because he’d done a piece relating to that. David does this amazing stuff using many layers of transparencies so you get these strange creations with a real intensity to them. Part of what he does is imagine what art might look like a few years in the future and then try and create accordingly and I think he’s done that very successfully in this particular piece.’

If you’d like to find out more about David Spriggs or any of the organisations that helped inspire the lyric of the song, please check out these links:

David Spriggs – https://davidspriggs.art
Forensic Architecture – https://forensic-architecture.org
Bellingcat – bellingcat.com
WITNESS – Witness.org 

– CREDITS –
Words and Music Peter Gabriel
Produced by Peter Gabriel
Published by Real World Music Ltd. / Sony Music Publishing
Engineered by Oli Jacobs and Katie May.
Pre-production engineering by Richard Chappell
Assistant engineering by Faye Dolle
Dark-Side Mixed by Tchad Blake
Bright-Side Mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent
Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis
In-Side Mix: 3D Audio sound treatments and Dolby Atmos mix by Hans-Martin Buff in the Red Room at Real World Studios & Aural Majority Pad, Boofland. Additional recording assistance from Dom Shaw
Recorded at Real World Studios, Bath and The Beehive, London
Cover Image: Red Gravity by David Spriggs

Drums: Manu Katché
Rhythm Programming: Peter Gabriel, Oli Jacobs, Richard Chappell
Bass: Tony Levin
Electric Guitar: David Rhodes
Acoustic Guitar: Katie May
Additional Electric and Acoustic Guitar on the In-Side Mix only: Stuart McCallum
Synths: Peter Gabriel
Additional Synths: Oli Jacobs
Bells and Haunting Synths: Brian Eno
Backing Vocals: Peter Gabriel, David Rhodes, Ríoghnach Connolly
Lead Vocals: Peter Gabriel