News came back in October that former Genesis man Peter Gabriel planned to release a "radical" album of orchestra covers, entitled 'Scratch My Back' (artwork on the left). Now, the first full track to emerge from it can be heard online, and it's a cover of Arcade Fire's 'My Body Is A Cage'.
Gabriel has also posted a podcast on his website, with excerpts from and the backstory behind the album's first four tracks, Bowie's "Heroes", Paul Simon's "The Boy In The Bubble", Elbow's "Mirrorball" and Bon Iver's "Flume".
Gabriel collaborated on the album with Bob Ezrin and John Metcalf and his take on the Arcade Fire song is quite morose, epic and a bit mind-bending. He said of the track:
"It took me awhile to really get what [Arcade Fire] were doing, and I think sometimes that's a sign of quality ... I love this [song] title. I have no idea what Win was writing about here. Whatever they were talking about, for me, I got this picture of The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, and it also made me think about relationship moments when you feel totally unable to go into your body properly, and you feel trapped inside and you can't communicate the way you need to...."
Hear it streaming over on Stereogum now.
'Scratch My Back' is due for release on February 12th. The Full tracklist is as follows:
01 "Heroes" (David Bowie)
02 "The Boy in the Bubble" (Paul Simon)
03 "Mirrorball" (Elbow)
04 "Flume" (Bon Iver)
05 "Listening Wind" (Talking Heads)
06 "The Power of the Heart" (Lou Reed)
07 "My Body Is a Cage" (Arcade Fire)
08 "The Book of Love" (The Magnetic Fields)
09 "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (Randy Newman)
10 "Après moi" (Regina Spektor)
11 "Philadelphia" (Neil Young)
12 "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (Radiohead)
