Photo Credit: London Anton Corbijn
Today, April 24, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour took to social media to tease his latest studio project and first album of new material in nearly a decade, Luck and Strange, due on September 6 via Sony Music. The artist also shared that tomorrow, Thursday, April 25, the LP’s initial track, “The Piper’s Call,” will drop via BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show and serve as the world debut and initial taste of Gilmour’s contemporary sonic entry.
The forthcoming deliverable was recorded over five months in Brighton and London, with help from producers David and Charlie Andrew. Tapping into the experience, Gilmour recalled of the partnership, “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.”
The material on the LP was composed by Gilmour and Polly Samson, the musician’s co-written and collaborated over the last 30 years. Makes sense of the lyrical themes that permeate the impending collection, Samson offered, “It’s written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant.” Gilmour details, “We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking
about and thinking about those kind of things.”
Samson also touched on Charlie Andrew’s role, adding, “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.” Luck and Strange features eight new tracks and a cover of The Montgolfier Brothers’ “Between Two Points” from a team of personnel that includes Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass, Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drum, Rob Gentry & Roger Eno on keyboards with string and choral arrangements by Will Gardner.
Also, the title track features the late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright from a recorded play circa 2007 during a barn jam at Gilmour’s place. Some material turned up during 2020 and 2021 livestreams, making certain plays familiar to some. A family affair, the original performances featured Gilmour’s kin, Romany and Gabriel. “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.”
Watch Gilmour’s LP tease via Instagram below.
Luck and Strange Tracking List:
Black Cat
Luck and Strange
The Piper’s Call
A Single Spark
Vita Brevis*
Between Two Points – with Romany Gilmour
Dark and Velvet Nights
Sings
Scattered