Peter Gabriel dropped “Till Your Mind Is Shining” on April 2, timed to the pink full moon, and it’s the fourth track released from his forthcoming album ‘o\i’. Written and produced by Gabriel, the Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake is the version out now, with Mark “Spike” Stent’s Bright-Side Mix following later this month on the new moon. Gabriel calls it the closest thing to a pop song on the record, and he means it as a compliment. “It takes me back to my schooldays,” he says, “before there was Genesis we were effectively trying to be songwriters, pop songs or soul and R&B songs. I think this song connects me back to some of those roots.”
The song started as a chord sequence Gabriel kept returning to, leaving it to breathe between sessions until it felt ready. That patient, instinctive approach shows in the result. It’s warm, playful, and layered with the kind of deeply considered lyricism that’s defined Gabriel’s work for decades, this time rooted in consciousness, sentience, and the inner life. “It’s about opening up the mind and stepping inside to understand a little more of ourselves and the world we live in,” he explains.
The artwork comes from Tokyo-based contemporary artist Tatsuo Miyajima, whose piece ‘Warp Time with Warp Self, No. 2’ Gabriel selected for its tension between the digital and the deeply human. Miyajima first gained international recognition at the 1988 Venice Biennale and has since championed the Kaki Tree Project, an art initiative rooted in peace and the memory of Hiroshima. Gabriel sees the image as a reflection of the song’s central theme: the interaction between human consciousness and the mechanical world we’re building around it.
“Till Your Mind Is Shining” is out now. Further details on ‘o\i’ are coming.
