Peter Gabriel's Orchestral Arcade Fire Cover, More To Come

I was pretty excited to hear about Peter Gabriel's new, relatively low-profile project. The legendary musician and former Genesis frontman is releasing an all-orchestral, no-guitars-allowed covers album. A few of his choices were to be expected: standards from Paul Simon, David Bowie and even Randy Newman didn't surprise me. But here's the interesting part: He's also reinterpreting some contemporary rock and pop bands you know and love.

For a sneak peek, you can listen to Gabriel's cover of The Arcade Fire's "My Body Is a Cage" over at Stereogum.

On Scratch My Back, out Feb. 15, Gabriel will cover an impressive list of artists. From his Web site:

"The album will feature Peter's recordings of 'Heroes' (David Bowie), 'The Boy in the Bubble' (Paul Simon), 'Mirrorball' (Elbow), 'Flume' (Bon Iver), 'Listening Wind' (Talking Heads), 'The Power of the Heart' (Lou Reed), 'My Body Is a Cage' (Arcade Fire), 'The Book of Love' (The Magnetic Fields), 'I Think It's Going to Rain Today' (Randy Newman), 'Apres Moi' (Regina Spektor), 'Philadelphia' (Neil Young) and 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)' (Radiohead)."

On tour with a full orchestra this spring, Gabriel is hitting six major cities in France, Germany, England, Canada and the U.S.