Does anyone make bass lines as slickly, gut-churningly hypnotic as Peter Gabriel? You feel that deep, cellular shiver from the first notes of i/o: his first solo studio album of original material in 21 years. Those low segmented frequencies squirm like the “electric worms” Brian Eno is credited as playing on a record that offers a couple of bombastic bangers – “Olive Tree” and “Road to Joy” – but mostly takes its slow, slippery time to work its hooks into you.
Looking at online reactions to the new songs (one released each full moon this year), I notice fans clocking the same deep-stomach impact they first felt upon hearing Gabriels’ Eighties hits – songs like “Sledgehammer”, “In Your Eyes” and “Don’t Give Up” – on car stereos. All those tracks appeared on his most radio-friendly album, So, in 1986, around the same time as the average Brit’s car speakers got good and the CD market was taking off.
