Ex-Genesis Singer Peter Gabriel On The Curse Lifting Ritual Featured On His Solo Record

The former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel has been preparing to release his new album of original material in 21 years, ‘i/o.’ In a recent video on his official YouTube channel, Gabriel reflected on the second song from the upcoming record, ‘The Court,’ and the work used on the album cover.

After announcing in December that his new album was almost ready, Gabriel released the first song of his forthcoming record, ‘Panopticom‘ in January. He also released a video about the track on his YouTube channel to explain the main idea behind it. Gabriel has a certain plan to release the new songs from his album, as he shares them every time there is another full moon.

So, there is a good chance that fans will be hearing new material from him once every month. In the February full moon, the vocalist released the second track of the record titled ‘The Court.’ The song is also accompanied by a piece of art from Tim Shaw titled ‘The Burning of Lifting the Curse.’ In the video for the track, Gabriel explained that rituals fascinate him, and the strong story attached to the figure on the cover impacted him a lot.

Shaw also appeared in the video along with Gabriel and revealed that the cover photo was a response to the curse laid on London’s Royal Academy of Art by collaborative duo Gilbert and George, who quit the Academy after their major exhibition was turned down. So, he created this work to lift the curse that Gilbert and George put on the Academy and its members.

Peter Gabriel speaking on the album cover:

“I think Tim felt that maybe I’d chosen this image because, in effect, this figure was standing there and being judged and burnt in a way as maybe the result of the judgment, but I just responded to the photograph of this very strange figure that was burning. I think rituals are fascinating, they tell us a lot about ourselves, and this particular image has a strange story attached to it. “

Tim Shaw added:

“The image that was chosen for the track titled ‘The Court’ is a photographic image that was taken during the burning of a piece called Lifting the Curse. The piece was created as a response to the curse that was issued. Gilbert and George had cursed the Royal Academy and all of its members.

It was kind of funny on the surface of it; it’s outrageously… You can say that it has humor. On another level, it kind of stuck in my mind, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m a member of the Royal Academy. I’ve just been cursed.’ I kind of knew what I was going to do; that’s going to make this figure.”

With each new release of music, Gabriel also includes a specific piece of art and the cover. While quitting the Academy, Gilbert and George said they had cursed the Royal Academy and all its members. So, it became an inspiration for Shaw to create the cover of Gabriel’s song, ‘The Court.’