Sony Music
David Gilmour releases his first solo record in 9 years in September 2024, and he claims it is good enough to rival his best Pink Floyd work, stating ‘This is the best album I’ve made since “The Dark Side of the Moon”’. That’s a high bar to set, and implies that the record will be a classic, but is it?
The album, recorded over five months in Brighton and London, features eight new tracks along with a reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ ‘Between Two Points’. Musicians contributing to the record include Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass, Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drums, Rob Gentry and Roger Eno on keyboards with string and choral arrangements by Will Gardner. The late Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright also features on the title track, recorded in 2007 at Gilmour’s house. It’s a family affair, and Gilmour’s daughter Romany sings, plays the harp and performs lead vocals on a few tracks. The majority of the album’s lyrics are written by Polly Samson, Gilmour’s co-writer, collaborator and wife, who says the lyrics are ‘written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant’.
There are plenty of echoes of Pink Floyd on the album with bassist Guy Pratt playing on six of the songs, a heartbeat intro to one song, and as mentioned, an old improvisation with Richard Wright. Although the record is less reliant on guitar solos than Floyd was, the album is, of course, decorated with beautiful guitar work, right from the first track ‘Black Cat’, a short, one and half minute guitar solo backed by a piano. Then comes the gently driven title track, ‘Luck and Strange’, and the single ‘The Piper’s Call’, which is one of the album’s highlights, with a catchy chorus and guitar playing that somehow sounds like ‘Dogs’ crossed with ‘Coming Back to Life’ from ‘The Division Bell’ album. A fresh ambience comes with the slow burning ‘A Single Spark’, thanks to the choir recorded at Ely Cathedral, a landmark Floyd fans will be familiar with from ‘The Division Bell’ cover.
Gilmour’s daughter, Romany, is the star of the next couple of tracks, with a 46 second interlude on the harp on ‘Vita Brevis’ followed by ‘Between Two Points’, where she sings with both vulnerability and understated control. The swaying ‘Dark and Velvet Nights’ has an intro that sounds like something from ‘The Wall’ album before the rhythmic backing kicks in, reminiscent of that in Floyd’s ‘Coming Back to Life’. ‘Sings’ is a heartfelt plea from Gilmour not to leave his family cocoon, as low, ominous strings grow in the background. The production on this track is particularly impressive. Gilmour’s swelling, almost orchestral guitar illuminates the closing track ‘Scattered’, complete with the pulse of a heartbeat, and the most Floyd-like song. The keyboard is similar to ‘Echoes’ from ‘Meddle’, followed by a short and stunning grand piano solo.
Not escaping his Floyd past, but paying tribute to it, the record still contains a freshness, thanks in part to Charlie Andrew, whose production work with Alt-J Gilmour was impressed with. It’s not Gilmour’s best work since ‘A Dark Side of the Moon’, as he claims, but it’s still a fine album. The lyrics might be looking at the past, but the music is looking to Gilmour’s future.
4/6 | Anne-Marie Forker
Release date: 6 September 2024