David Gilmour has compared his new solo album to Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’.
The 78-year-old multi-instrumentalist has boasted that his first album in nine years, ‘Luck and Strange’, is the “best” thing he’s done since the legendary prog rock group’s seminal 1973 LP.
He told Prog Rock magazine: “It’s over 50 years now since ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’. My feeling is that this album is the best album I’ve made in all those years since 1973 when ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ came out.”
What’s more, the ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ hitmaker is planning to follow up ‘Luck and Strange’ with another record in the not-so-distant future.
He teased: “Our plan is just to get this one out and run it and then do another one straight away. I will be working with all these people again.”
The follow-up to 2015’s ‘Rattle That Lock’ on September 6.
Gilmour 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, 62, 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.
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.