| "Four Kinds of Horses" | ||||
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| Single by Peter Gabriel | ||||
| from the album I/O | ||||
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| Length | 6:47 | |||
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| Songwriter(s) | Peter Gabriel | |||
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"Four Kinds of Horses" is a song by English musician Peter Gabriel, released in May 2023 as the fifth single in promotion of his tenth studio album I/O . The track has been described by Rolling Stone as atmospheric, swirling, and sparkling. [2] The cover artwork was done by Cornelia Parker. [3] [4]
The song was originally conceived in 2015 when the founder of XL Recordings Richard Russell asked Peter Gabriel to make a song for his project "Everything Is Recorded". [5] While in the studio, Gabriel came up with some chords, melodies and words on top of a groove he was working on; with the help from Russell, it would eventually become "Four Kinds of Horses". [2] [3] [6] Gabriel said that the song "didn't altogether work", in part because he was dissatisfied with the chorus, so he temporarily shelved the song. He later reworked the song with Katie May, placing particular attention on the song's groove and chorus, where he tried three or four different ideas before settling on something he was pleased with. [5]
As the track developed, a couple of things would influence the track, such as the Buddhist Parable of Four Kinds of Horses, which explain how a student can approach religious and spiritual practice. The song also shows themes of the "overlap of religion and peace on the one hand and violence and terrorism on the other." He also took further inspiration from a plot line in the film Paradise Now by Hany Abu-Assad where two characters receive training to commit a terrorist act, which also explored the mindsets of these individuals during their preparations. [2] [3]
The track also features Brian Eno, who previously worked with Gabriel on 1992's Us . [7] Gabriel believed that Eno's synthesisers sounded like electric worms and felt that they "would make a great three dimensional wall paper of sound", so Gabriel asked Eno to create eleven additional similar-sounding parts. [8] John Metcalfe contributed string arrangements and Gabriel's daughter Melanie sang backing vocals. [3]
In his review for i/o, Alexis Petridis identified "Four Kind of Horses" as a song that demonstrated Gabriel's lyrical approach to topics surrounding religious fundamentalism and right-wing populism, saying that he tackled these topics "from the vantage point of someone who's been around a long time." [9] Chris Roberts of Record Collector highlighted the "gorgeous lull" found in the middle of the song and its "bass and string stabs." [10] Writing for The Observer , Damien Morris labelled "Four Kinds of Horses" as the best song on i/o. [11] John Lewis of Uncut characterised the song as "a celebration of spiritual wisdom, set to twinkly, horror-movie tubular bells and a gothic beat." [12]
| Chart (2023) | Peak position |
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| UK Singles Downloads (OCC) [13] | 65 |