David Gilmour announces first new album in nine years
Former Pink Floyd musician David Gilmour has unveiled details of his new solo album, Luck and Strange, set for release on September 6th through Sony Music.
The forthcoming LP has been produced by sibling duo, David and Charlie Andrew, who have previously worked with the likes of Alt-J, Wolf Alice and Marika Hackman. Gilmour spent five months recording Luck and Strange, splitting the studio time between Brighton and London.
Reflecting on his work with the producers, Gilmour said: “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.”
For Luck and Strange, Gilmour also teamed up with his longtime collaborator and wife, Polly Samson, who composed the majority of the lyrics for the forthcoming record, with an emphasis on the ageing process, according to Gilmour, who said, “It’s written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant.”
He continued: “We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking about and thinking about those kind of things.”
Luck and Strange consists of eight new tracks, and a cover of ‘Between Two Points’, originally released by The Montgolfier Brothers. Meanwhile, celebrated artist Anton Corbijn used his talents to create the artwork.
Poignantly, the album’s title track sees Gilmour reunite with the late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, who passed away in 2008. A year before his death, Wright recorded the part during a jam session at Gilmour’s barn. His children, Romany Gilmour, Charlie Gilmour and Gabriel Gilmour, also contribute to the record.
For Gilmour, the opportunity to team up with his family was a significant moment, noting, “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 album’s lead single, ‘The Piper’s Call’, is set to premiere on BBC Radio 2 on April 25th.
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