Peter Gabriel is out with the fifth single off his upcoming album o/i.
The latest track is “Won’t Stand Down,” which Gabriel notes is “a song to encourage some sort of activism.”
Gabriel says the song was initially inspired by TheElders.org, a group of people whose “currency is not based on military power, economic power or political power, but just the moral authority they have from having lived extraordinary, selfless lives.” With the song, he notes he wanted to offer “a hope that can help us start envisioning a just, peaceful and fairer world.”
“I think people generally respond much better to positive pictures of what’s coming than they do when they are bombarded and scared by negative ones,” he says. “We are much more likely to engage if we feel hope.”
Gabriel adds, “Right now, we don’t see so many positive visions of the future, at least they’re not being projected so strongly as the negative, so I think it’s really important that we start looking for visions to which we can aspire and looking for people who can provide that.”
As he did with his last album, 2023’s i/o, Gabriel is releasing a new song from o/i with each full moon of the year. The entire album will be released by the end of 2026, along with Dark-Side and Bright-Side mixes handled by Tchad Blake and Mark “Spike” Stent, respectively.
“Won’t Stand Down” is now available via digital outlets.
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