The drug addiction of singer Syd Barret at the beginning, later the legendary ongoing feud with bassist Roger Waters, and finally the deaths of several of the founding members—it is understandable why David Gilmour has long dismissed all rumors of a Pink Floyd comeback.
Ten years ago, the group, which was really more of a phenomenon detached from earthly concerns than a band, officially disbanded. Albums such as The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here stand as monuments in pop history. Even cover bands that tour with the songs fill stadiums. For David Gilmour, guitarist, singer, and creator of many Pink Floyd songs, music has become a family affair. Released last year, his latest album Luck and Strange features his wife, his daughter and his son. Luck And Strange therefore feels like a peek through the keyhole into the family life of a rock legend. Of course, it is produced to the highest quality standards – making it a must-have for music enthusiasts.
This is already evident in the album’s intro, “Black Cat.” Slowly, synth sounds build between the speakers, until first a piano and then the sound of a guitar emerge crystal clear from the swirling soundscape. The cinematic impression that quickly arises in the listener’s mind is no coincidence –the piano is played by none other than Roger Eno, a musician specializing in ambient sounds who, among other things, was responsible for the soundtrack for the famous 1984 film adaptation of Dune by the recently deceased David Lynch (featuring Sting as an actor).
There is a second instrumental piece on the album: “Vita Brevis.” The short piece is carried by the gentle sound of a harp. It is plucked by David Gilmour’s youngest daughter Romany, who also proves herself to be a talented singer on the new album. The mixture of her harp playing, the breathy singing and her father’s campfire guitar in the background on the song “Between Two Points” could just as easily have ended up on an album by Lana Del Rey. The family ensemble on the new solo album also includes son Gabriel, who can be heard as a backing vocalist. And almost all of the lyrics on the album were written by Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson, a British writer. The song “Dark And Velvet Nights,” for example, is based on a poem Samson once wrote for her wedding to David.
The entire work sounds fresh and modern, not at all like a dusty psychedelic Pink Floyd reminiscence. This is in part due to the production: David Gilmour brought in Charlie Andrew for this album, a British sound engineer who had previously worked mainly with up-and-coming independent artists and who evidently had no qualms about rearranging Gilmours soundscapes that had crystallized over the years. “We invited Charlie over, he listened to a few demos, and made comments like, ‘Does there really need to be a guitar solo here?’, ‘Are all the songs fading out? How about a proper ending?’” Gilmour recounts the collaboration in the liner notes for the record. “It’s wonderful that he knew next to nothing about my past – and had no respect for it either.”
Nevertheless, there is also room for nostalgia on Luck and Strange. For example, the keyboard sound of Richard Wright, Pink Floyd’s keyboardist who died in 2008, can be heard on the record. Gilmour recorded a joint jam session in 2007 and has now incorporated parts of it into the title track “Luck and Strange.” A note for all Pink Floyd fans: the complete recording from the rehearsal rooms can also be found as a bonus track on the album.