ARTIST: Peter Gabriel

CREATOR: Ezra Soiferman

SONG: This Is Home (Bright-Side Mix) FROM i/o

Video info:

To mesh with the theme of home, I sifted through thousands of images in my photo collection, finding my favourite shots of animals and insects in their homes or natural habitats.
I selected birds, bees and butterflies as well as tons of other critters: some fuzzy, some feathery, some sleek; a bunch of up-close macro shots of stunning flowers too.
I was happy with how it was all clicking into place so smoothly, but felt it was missing something: another visual layer to connect what we are seeing to the song.
 “What can I add to this to take it to the next level?,” I wondered. After a minute of head-scratching my mind blurted out: "The concert photos!” How did this not dawn on me sooner?
I had been so taken by the song and so busy finding just the right nature shots to go with it, that I had overlooked the fact that a month earlier I'd actually shot photos of Gabriel in concert at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Fuelled by this brainwave, I began interspersing photos of him and his incredible band in THEIR natural habitat… up on stage. Long story short, it all just worked.
My hope is that this fan video brings a deeper appreciation for the seemingly infinite (but frequently threatened) species and habitats all around us. My goal is to shine a grateful spotlight on all these creatures, showing their interactions with each other and the natural world around them.
May the colour, warmth and beauty they offer provide some much-needed hope in today’s topsy-turvy world. After all, “This is home” and - as far as I know - it’s the only one we and the animals have.
I’m thrilled to share all this with you today. Thanks for reading, thanks for watching and please feel free to share it with others if you dig it!
The video “This Is Home” was featured in the February 2024 issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Song info:

This Is Home is a track taken from Peter Gabriel's album i/o, released on 1 December 2023. This is the Bright-Side Mix, by Mark 'Spike' Stent.

Words and music by Peter Gabriel. Produced by Peter Gabriel and Richard Russell.

Published by Real World Music Ltd. / Sony Music Publishing.

“This Is Home is a love song. It began with inspiration from some of the great Tamla Motown rhythm sections so we’re trying to recreate that in a modern way, complete with the tambourine and handclaps. The groove I like a lot, Tony Levin does a great bass part there.

I did an unusual thing for me in that I tried doing this low voice / high voice thing, so you get this almost conversational voice at the beginning and the second part is a higher, more emotional voice. I thought that would be both intimate and emotive to put the two side by side.”

-pg