Peter Gabriel
Up

THE REVIEW

The birth "I", the growth "II", the establishment "III", the transition "IV", the multilateral polarization "Birdy-Passion-Long Walk Home", the subjective expressive intensity "Plays Live-Secret World Live", the evolution "So", the navigation of "Us" to converge into "Ovo" and complete a life cycle in "Up".

An omnivorous man who does not know perpetual routine and is a constant nonconformist, he experiments to elevate and distinguish himself. This album was deliberately released on September 21, the last full moon of summer, where there is silence, in the dark night of a boundless universe above our lands and where there is noise and humidity, in the boundless lands beneath our feet, moon and water constitute two fundamental elements for Gabriel. In fact, he creates the Real World in a forest open to the starry vision and next to a fairy-like stream. Being a great supporter of the relationship between sound and matter, he applies technological experiments that lead to the creation of new sounds. He uses this already at the start with the creation of the cover where his enlarged and blurred face is reflected in a close-up of small drops of water that fall and delicately and maternally rest on his palm. These drops are created by the flowing water from a small tube, which, attached to an amplifier, causes the sound wave to transform the flowing water into small individual droplets, and Gabriel associates this decomposition of continuous flow with our life journey.

"Darkness" the opening is imposing and communicative like the heartbeat of a life in the making accompanied by silent and thoughtful intervals and suddenly the traumatic scream for the transition from the womb to the impact with the outside and the end of the track where the heartbeat fades until it dies, a maxim of life, an interrogative journey between birth and mortality - "Growing Up" cello and electronics and the first fears, the anguish of not knowing how to grow and coexist with the outside world, exploration of individuality, genetic mutation, equilibrium station for the antinomy - "Sky Blue" pompous and velvety, sky blue, graced by the gospel of the Blind Boys Of Alabama chasing voice and guitar (reworked in the soundtrack of "Rabbit-Proof Fence") - "No Way Out" mature, intense and melancholic where Lady Death engraves irreversible pain and is accompanied by organ, piano, and voice, imploringly - "I Grieve" track that highlights again the suffering for the loss of a loved one and the ability to fight to help oneself to continue overcoming and living even in intrinsic pain (skeletally present in the soundtrack of "City Of Angels") - "The Barry Williams Show" interval of everyday banality amid noise and the most cynical consumerism, all in an electronic setting - "My Head Sounds Like That" piano and melodic percussion interrupted by "heavy" intrusions and concluded in floatability, still in search of himself through sound - "More Than This" adorable and also unattainable track, an introspective, analytical journey, a game of succession between voice, piano, and guitar... much, much more than this exists, there's something else, when everything you had is no longer... - "Signal To Noise" a reflection on mortality and human compassion, the extraordinary voice of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the crescendo of strings and the sonic explosion in unison, make it unique - "The Drop" a close relationship between piano and voice and... how many times have we been enchanted by watching in the sky those whipped cream mountains transforming into bizarre shapes? But then, what is beyond the white clouds...

And someone rightly said that music is too necessary for Gabriel (as it is for many of us) to be treated like any transgenic seed, it profits and is eternal joy that molds the soul, while we daily set out to combat the fear that makes the human dimension interesting, every time you face it and overcome it, you release a great amount of atomic energy.