Peter Gabriel is in the process of completing a new album for release next spring, but don't be looking for another So or Us. This album will be the result of the new Scratch My Back project which is described as "song swap with some of the world's most legendary artists."

Arranger Mike Metcalfe, who is working on the project, describes it on Gabriel's official site:

I have been busy working closely with Peter Gabriel on his 'Scratch My Back' project. This is a song swap with some of the world's most legendary artists and is due for release in the Spring. My role has been to re-interpret the music of the song's he has chosen to cover - quite honerous as some of the songs are among the best known in the last 40 years. The album will be acoustic, using only orchestral instruments (no guitars, drums or world instruments) and range in size from sparse chamber music to a much fuller orchestral sounds. We recently recorded the orchestra at Air Lyndhurst studios (George Martin's studio) in London which was an enormous thrill hearing my arrangements performed by some of the best performers in the UK. The producer of the album is Canadian legend Bob Ezrin who has recorded dozens of classic albums including Pink Floyd's The Wall. We performed one of the songs, Paul Simon's Boy In The Bubble at Womad back in July. I have been working a lot down at Real World studios editing and mixing and will be continuing with that in the Autumn and it's been a huge privilege to work with the great man.

The Scratch My Back moniker comes from the plan for Gabriel to cover an artists' song and, in turn, that artist will cover one of Gabriel's tunes. What is not clear is if Gabriel will release his set of covers followed later by the other artists, it will be a two-CD set or some other distribution will be used.

Finally, a Japanese site has posted a supposed list of the tracks for the album. Take this with a grain of salt:

• Heroes
• Street Spirit
• The Book of Love
• Flume
• My Body is a Cage
• Listening Wind
• I Think It's Going to Rain Today
• Apres Moi
• Waterloo Sunset
• The Boy in the Bubble
• The Power of the Heart
• Philadelphia
• Mirrorball