Peter Gabriel has shared “I Belong to the Sky,” the latest track from his forthcoming album o/i.
Released on the strawberry full moon of Tuesday, June 30, 2026, the song was written and produced by Gabriel. The first version to be released is the Bright-Side Mix by Mark “Spike” Stent, with a Dark-Side Mix set to follow on the next new moon.
Speaking about the track, Gabriel said: “It’s another song which has taken a while to grow. It was a candidate, in some form, for the i/o record, but didn’t get finished off, but it was always one of my favourites.”
Gabriel explained that the song began with a timpani tom-tom pattern inspired by the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day and drummer Chico Hamilton.
“I think he was the pioneer of the use of timpani sticks on the toms and I always loved that sound; calm and hypnotic,” Gabriel said. “It set a really strong mood for me and the song grew up around it.”
The song explores visualisation, dreams and the process of thoughts becoming reality. Gabriel said he believes reality is “more malleable than we imagine” and that strong mental images can affect the chances of something materialising.
The cover art for “I Belong to the Sky” is Nimbus de Toekomst 1, 2019 by Berndnaut Smilde, photographed by Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk. Smilde’s work explores light, space, atmosphere and temporary moments, with his Nimbus pieces capturing clouds that exist briefly inside architectural spaces before disappearing.
Gabriel said the image connected strongly with the themes of the song.
“I loved this image of the sky,” he said. “The cloud brought inside – that mixture of outside and interior worlds. I think that’s what the song is all about. This mix between the interior and the exterior and the transition between them.”
Further details on the release plans for o/i will be announced in due course.
