David Gilmour is releasing his fifth solo album in nine years, Luck and Strange, out September 6. News of the album will be accompanied by the release of Gilmour’s first Luck and Strange single, “The Piper’s Call,” on Thursday, April 25. Gilmour teased the new music in an Instagram video of him in the studio saying “I’m Ready.”
Recorded over five months in London and Brighton, England, and co-produced by Gilmour and Charlie Andrew—known for his work with the Marika Hackman and British indie rockers ALT-J—Luck and Strange marks Gilmour’s first release since Rattle That Lock in 2015.
“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?'” said Gilmour of working with Andrew in a statement. “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.”
A majority of the tracks were written by novelist Polly Samson, Gilmour’s wife, co-writer, and collaborator of more than 30 years. Luck and Strange features eight new songs, including a reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ 1999 song “Between Two Points” and the title track, which features the late Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright. On “Luck and Strange,” Wright’s parts were originally recorded in 2007 during a jam session inside a barn at Gilmour’s home.
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“It’s written from the point of view of being older,” said Samson of the themes surfacing within Luck and Strange. “Mortality is the constant.” Gilmour adds, “We spent a load of time during and after lockdown talking about and thinking about those kind of things.”
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On working with Andrew, Samson called the experience “liberating” for her and Gilmour. “He wants to know what the songs are about,” she said. “He wants everyone who’s playing on them to have the ideas that are in the [lyrics] informing their playing. I have particularly loved it for that reason.”
Portions of the album were bred from live streams that Gilmour and his family performed during the pandemic lockdown in 2020 and 2021. Daughter Romany Gilmour sings and plays the harp on the Luck and Strange track “Between Two Points” with son Gabriel Gilmour on backing vocals.
The album is backdropped by artwork and photography composed by Anton Corbijn, including the cover image, which was inspired by a lyric written by son Charlie Gilmour for the closing track “Scattered.”
Luck and Strange also features a hand-picked collective of musicians, including Roger Eno and Rob Gentry on keyboards, bassists, Tom Herbert and Guy Pratt, and drummers Steve DiStanislao, Steve Gadd, and Adam Betts, along with string and choral arrangements by Will Gardner.
The vinyl release of the album features the nine tracks, while the CD includes two bonus tracks: “Yes, I Have Ghosts” and “Luck and Strange (Original Barn Jam). A Blu-ray version also features the aforementioned bonus tracks in addition to orchestral versions of “A Single Spark” and “Scattered.”
“Polly and I have been writing together for over 30 years,” said Gilmour of working with his family on the Luck and Strange. “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.”
David Gilmour ‘Luck and Strange’ Tracklist:
- “Black Cat”
- “Luck and Strange”
- “The Piper’s Call”
- “A Single Spark”
- “Vita Brevis”
- “Between Two Points
- “Dark and Velvet Nights”
- “Sings”
- “Scattered”
Photo: MJ Kim/Getty Images
