Peter Gabriel Stares Down Death on 'Face the Wall'

By Tom Whitfield

Peter Gabriel released "Face the Wall," the 10th song from his upcoming album o\i, on a full-moon schedule that began January 3 with "Been Undone (Dark-Side Mix)." The Tchad Blake-produced track confronts dying directly — and Gabriel supplied only its "Dark-Side Mix" this time.

The choice fits the material. Gabriel said in a statement: "The lyric is partly about getting older, facing illness, and it's looking death in the face, which I think we don't do enough of."

He went further on the cultural point. "Cultures which seem to include death as a normal part of life seem more comfortable with it and live life to the full. That was the starting point," Gabriel said.

What does the song actually deliver?

Gabriel himself flags the uncertainty of songwriting. "You never quite know when you're in the studio whether the song is going to be a vehicle that can carry people, or not," he admitted. "I know this is going to speak to some people."

That caveat sits beside a clear claim of intent. The closing line, "I see you coming through," is, in his words, "a cathartic moment." He said: "Conditions are getting worse and more intense as the song progresses, but with that lyric it suggests there is a reason to be hopeful."

Where does the sculpture come in?

Each release from o\i carries a visual companion. For "Face the Wall," Gabriel chose a photograph of Tadashi Kawamata's "The Nest. Amos Rex" — a sculpture in which an avalanche of wooden chairs descends a building toward an oddly placed stairwell.

Gabriel came to the work cold. "I wasn't aware of Tadashi Kawamata's work before seeing this image, but this was the thing that got me excited," he said. "I thought it was perfect for this song and got me looking at a lot of his other work."

What does this change for the album?

The release pattern is fixed and public: one new track per full moon since January 3, including "Put the Bucket Down," "A Hard Lesson," and "I Belong to the Sky." "Face the Wall" is track 10. Gabriel has said two more tracks will likely follow before o\i appears in full.

The dual-mix practice continues from his 2023 album i/o, where every song appeared in both a "Bright-Side Mix" and a "Dark-Side Mix." Here, for a song about dying, only the darker version has surfaced. No release date for the full album has been announced, and no reasons were given for withholding the brighter mix — a silence worth noting given Gabriel's own admission that songs may or may not "carry people."

Two full moons remain, in all likelihood, before listeners can judge the whole.