Peter Gabriel wanted to challenge himself by writing a happy song. Not that he hasn't done so in the past, but as he wrote on his website, it has always been easier for him to write a tune about something less than positive. He isn't the only one, of course, but he has produced many epics of doom.
His latest full moon cycle song, "Looking for the Happy," is, as the name implies, far from that theme. This is proven further by Gabriel releasing the "bright-side" mix of the song first. With every new track, the icon drops (eventually) two versions: A bright-side and a dark-side.
Is the new track, and ninth single from his upcoming album, worthy of being heard and enjoyed? As with nearly everything by Peter Gabriel, the answer is yes, which means any new work can only be measured against his impressive past. Also, just as with his most recent album, 2023's i/o, his forthcoming LP, o\i, is being released a song at a time every time there is a new full moon.
Peter Gabriel drops latest full moon song, "Looking for the Happy": Review
The new song has happy lyrics, of course, though the instrumentation doesn't exactly scream get up and dance at the start. When Gabriel was first working on the tune, he felt the bass line had a Latin groove, and to a degree, the song does. A listener finding the track shouldn't expect Bad Bunny, however.
Instead, "Looking for the Happy" has a slightly toned-down feel of his excellent "In Your Eyes," though few songs can be quite that good. The newer track is far longer, for one, and comes in at about eight and a half minutes. Many of Gabriel's latest tracks are extended; he isn't going to cheat a listener with three minutes of pop fluff, after all.
About two minutes in, the chorus appears, and the music picks up pace. The drawback is that "Looking for the Happy" could have done with less space before the chorus. The buildup isn't quite worthy enough for the excellence of the far shorter chorus.
The track is more of a slow-burn meditation interspersed with the positive upheaval of the chorus for the first half of the track. To be sure, the song doesn't necessarily drag, but it doesn't quite reach its high-end potential because it's about three minutes too long.
Three-quarters of the way through, a more joyful sound takes hold and mostly plays for the rest of the track. One might have wished that the first two minutes of the song didn't exist as part of "Looking for the Happy," but instead belonged to some other song.
Peter Gabriel's o\i will be released at some point in 2026, it seems, and all of the tracks will presumably be released by the time the full album is dropped. Nine songs in, longtime fans know they will enjoy the latest record, but "Looking for the Happy," somewhat ironically, likely won't be one of the favorite tracks on the album.
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