Last Friday, the arch pop duo Haute & Freddy released their cover of Peter Gabriel's 1986 classic "In Your Eyes." The cover came out after Mike Flanagan had already used it in the prom scene of his Amazon Prime miniseries Carrie, evoking all kinds of teen-cinema memories in the process. Forty years after the release of "In Your Eyes," Gabriel remains very culturally present, even as he continues to unveil his new album o\i, one song at a time.
This year, Gabriel is releasing one o\i track every month, unveiling it on the night of a full moon. Last month, Gabriel shared "Face The Wall," the 10th advance single from the LP, and he unveiled the release details a few weeks ago. Now, Gabriel has another new song the itchy and purposeful six-minute chant "Who Are We Talking To?" In a press release, Gabriel says that it was inspired by Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, and Curtis Mayfield and that he hopes it encourages some kind of collective action:
"Who Are We Talking To?" was conceived as something that might encourage activism. It might be naive, but I still believe that people have real power for change if they can get together in large enough numbers. Politicians will respond — democracy or not.
My hope is that we start thinking of ourselves as global citizens and that we work together to bring about change on a global scale. These issues that we're looking at, whether it's climate change, AI, pandemics… these are all things that can’t be effectively dealt with on a national level — only globally. A country can have all the bright intentions that it wants, but it's pretty meaningless unless we have everyone working on it at the same time.
Many people feel powerless, oppressed ,and scared at the increasing divisions in the world. At the same time, I would argue that those all-powerful nations that think they are invincible are actually totally vulnerable now. Everybody's hackable. I think we're learning that with the right AI, and once we get quantum computing cutting through cyber security, we're all open to attack and the only sensible course of action would, of course, be to work together.
I really want to see big popular movements that are not about dividing us, with immigration, into them and us, but just the whole messy mass of humanity working together to deal with the things that may very well destroy us soon if we don't. So, this song is a plea for activism.
There is some sort of message, but it's got to be served on a danceable platter. Absolutely the references are from funk and soul and people like Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, and Curtis Mayfield creating beautiful rhythmic vehicles to deliver their message. There's a lot from that history that fed into this. We have Leo Nocentelli again on guitar, adding his unique corner of funk to some of these grooves. David Rhodes originally did a really nice funky pattern that we've also integrated. I asked Mike Elizondo to have a go with the Dark-Side mix on this one, and I think he's done a great job.
Just has he has done with every other song from o\i , Gabriel has selected a piece of artwork to go along with "Who Are We Talking To?" In this case, it's "Bloques," from the Spanish artist Juan Genovés. Here's what Gabriel says about it:
The artwork this month is by a Spanish artist called Juan Genovés and this piece "Bloques." When I saw it, I felt it hit the spot. Somehow, like many of the images across the album, it beautifully illustrates some of the ideas within the music. His thoughts on political oppression and resistance show lots of little people standing against these big geometric environments.
I imagine the title "Bloques" refers to these big physical blocks within the painting that seem to represent the barriers that divide people and make it harder for them to come together. I think he believed that these blocks were a power, a force, which could be employed for good or for evil — so appropriate for this song.
Hear "Who Are We Talking To?" below.
o\i is out 11/27 on Gabriel's own Real World label.