David Gilmour announces “Luck and Strange”, 1st solo album in 9 years

David Gilmour announced his first solo album in 9 years for September 6th. “Luck and Strange” reaches the public through Sony Music. The first single, “The Piper’s Call”will be made available this Thursday (25).

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In a statement, the eternal guitarist of pink Floyd account that the successor of “Rattle That Lock” (2015) began to be developed during the covid-19 pandemic. However, there is one collaboration that harks back to earlier times: the title track features keyboards recorded in 2007 by Richard Wrightwho died the year following registration.

Still according to the press material, the writer Polly Samson, Gilmour’s wife and responsible for the lyrics, said that the idea behind the compositions reflects “the point of view of being older”. “Mortality is a constant,” she added.

In turn, David reflected:

“We spent a lot of time during and after lockdown talking and thinking about this kind of thing.”

For this album, his fifth solo career, the musician worked with co-producer Charlie Andrew (Alt-J, Marika Hackman). According to the protagonist, Andrew brought a new perspective.

“We invited Charlie over to our house, so he listened to some demos and said things like, ‘Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo in there?’ and ‘Do all these songs end with fade-outs? Can’t some of them just end normally?’. He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for my past. He is very direct and not at all intimidated. And I love it. That’s really good for me, because the last thing you want is for people to just submit to you.”

Other contributors include Guy Pratt (frequent Pink Floyd musician), Steve Gadd It is Roger Eno, between others. The cover is from Anton Corbijn and was inspired by a lyric written by one of Gilmour’s sons, Charlie, for the album’s final track, “Scattered”.

There are other family members involved: Romany Gilmour plays the harp and sings lead vocals in “Between Two Points” (cover of Montgolfier Brothers), while Gabriel Gilmour sings backing vocals in general. The guitarist comments:

“Polly and I have been creating together for over 30 years, and the live features of our Von Trapped Family pandemic livestream series showcased the great blend of Romany’s voice and harp playing. This led us a bit to a sense of discarding a bit of the past that I felt obligated to revisit, that I could discard these rules and do what I wanted. That was a great joy.”

Previews

In recent times, signs that David Gilmour would be recording a new album have emerged on social media, especially from Polly Samson. The writer has shared photos of several musicians who ended up listed as collaborators on “Luck and Strange”.

Some recordings were made at Salvation Music Studio, in Brighton, England, according to the caption. Others, despite the lack of confirmation, are apparently in the British Grove, in London, which belongs to Mark Knopfler – the mind behind the Dire Straits.

In an interview with the Romanian website Ziles Inopti, published in December 2022, Samson had confirmed that she was working with her husband on new music. Months earlier, she posted images of the guitarist alongside Pratt.

In February 2023, David posed with Knopfler in the studio, sparking rumors of a possible collaboration. Nothing has been officially confirmed.

To Rolling Stone magazine, in June 2021, Gilmour declared:

“I hope to have an album ready in the next year or two, I’m not that fast. One of the problems, of course, is this lockdown thing. We are now both vaccinated, so things are a little better. But getting other people to listen, to help and to play things has been kind of impossible over the last year. I’m looking forward to actually playing some songs with a bunch of real musicians at some point.”

About David Gilmour

Born in Cambridge, England, David Jon Gilmour has been interested in music since childhood. Encouraged by his parents, he learned to play the guitar with the help of a book and his records.

In parallel with his first steps with the band Jokers Wild, he did some modeling work to support himself.

In 1967 he was invited to join Pink Floyd, initially helping to cover Syd Barrett’s lapses live. He ended up replacing his childhood friend. From the mid-1980s he became the group’s leader, a position he maintained until the end.

He released solo albums, in addition to participating in works with Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, The Who, BB King, Paul Rodgers and Elton John, among many others.