David Gilmour has unveiled his first album in nine years, ‘Luck and Strange’.
The Pink Floyd legend, 78, will return with the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Rattle That Lock’ on September 6, and the lead single, ‘The Piper’s Call’, is out now.
Gilmour has once again teamed up with his wife Polly Samson on some of the lyrics after she contributed to his last LP.
As for the lyrical content, the pair tackle the heavy subject of mortality.
Samson, 61, said: “It’s written from the point of view of being older – mortality is the constant.”
Gilmour said: “We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking about and thinking about those kind of things.”
The musician joined forces with Alt-J’s producer Charlie Andrew and loved how “direct” he was with him.
Gilmour shared: “We invited Charlie to the house, so he came and listened to some demos, and said things like, ‘Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?’ and ‘Do they all fade out? Can’t some of them just end?’
“He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine. 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.
“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.”
Gilmour’s late Pink Floyd bandmate, keyboard player Richard Wright, who passed away in 2008, makes an appearance on the title track after they recorded their jam session at the former’s barn in 2007.
The record is comprised of eight original tracks and a cover of The Montgolfier Brothers’ ‘Between Two Points’.
The latter features their daughter Romany Gilmour, who sings and plays the harp on ‘Between Two Points’, whilst their son Gabriel added backing vocals.
Gabriel previously performed piano on the song ‘In Any Tongue’ on ‘Rattle That Lock’.
Gilmour added: “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 record also features Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass, Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drums, Rob Gentry and Roger Eno – the brother of Brian Eno – on keyboards, and arrangements by Will Gardner.
‘Luck and Strange’ tracklisting:
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’