Pink Floyd's David Gilmour announces his first album of new songs in nearly a decade

25 April 2024, 13:10

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Luck and Strange is coming out this autumn.

David Gilmour is best known as the guitarist and singer in Pink Floyd, having played on all of their studio albums since he joined the group in late 1967.

Away from the group, he has released just four solo studio albums across his career, the first being 1978's David Gilmour and the most recent being 2015's Rattle That Lock.

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After the one-off Pink Floyd single 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' in 2022, Gilmour has now announced only his fifth solo studio album. It's made up of eight newly-written songs and a cover of The Montgolfier Brothers' 'Between Two Points'.

Luck and Strange is released on September 6 on Sony Music, and is trailed by the lead single 'The Piper's Call', which may or may not be a nod to Pink Floyd's debut Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the only one of the band's album released prior to Gilmour joining.

Recorded over five months in Brighton and London with producer Charlie Andrew, the album features regular collaborator Guy Pratt on bass, as well as keyboards by Brian Eno and Floyd's Richard Wright, recorded in 2007 a year before his death.

David Gilmour - The Piper's Call (Official Music Video)

Other musicians appearing on the album include bass player Tom Herbert, drummers Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao, and keyboard player Rob Gentry.

The album is also something of a Gilmour family affair, with lyrics by David's wife Polly Samson and son Charlie, and harp and vocals from his daughter Romany, with his son Gabriel also singing backing vocals.

"He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine," said David of the role of producer Charlie Andrew.

"He's very direct and not in any way overawed, and I love that. That is just so good for me because the last thing you want is people just deferring to you."

Polly Samson added: "He wants to know what the songs are about, he wants everyone who's playing on them to have the ideas that are in the lyric informing their playing. I have particularly loved it for that reason."

She said of the album: "It's written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant."

David agreed: "We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking about and thinking about those kind of things.

"Polly and I have been writing together for over thirty years and the Von Trapped live streams showed the great blend of Romany’s voice and harp-playing and that led us into a feeling of discarding some of the past that I’d felt bound to and that I could throw those rules out and do whatever I felt like doing, and that has been such a joy."

The full tracklisting of Luck and Strange is as follows:

1. Black Cat
2. Luck and Strange
3. The Piper’s Call
4. A Single Spark
5. Vita Brevis
6. Between Two Points - with Romany Gilmour
7. Dark and Velvet Nights
8. Sings
9. Scattered