CD review: David Gilmour – Luck And Strange – 2024: Video, CD cover

Finally, after nine years, a new album from David Gilmour, after 2015’s ‘Rattle That Lock’. It is the fifth solo album by the now 78-year-old guitarist who became world famous through his work with Pink Floyd.

‘Luck And Strange’ was recorded over five months in Brighton and London and is David Gilmour’s first album of new material in nine years.

The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with ALT-J and Marika Hackman. David says of this new working relationship: “We invited Charlie to our house, so he came to listen to a bunch of demos and said things like, ‘Why does there have to be a guitar solo there?’ and ‘Do they all fade away? 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 at all impressed, and I think that’s great. That’s just so good for me, because the last thing you want is people just putting you off.”

The majority of the album’s lyrics were written by David’s wife Polly Samson, Gilmour’s co-writer and collaborator for the past thirty years. Samson says of the lyrical themes explored in ‘Luck And Strange’: “It’s written from the perspective of being a parent; mortality is the constant.” Gilmour explains: “We spent a lot of time during and after lockdown talking and thinking about that kind of stuff.” Polly has also found the experience of working with Charlie Andrew liberating: “He wants to know what the songs are about, he wants everyone who plays them to have the ideas that are in the lyrics and that inform their playing. I’ve enjoyed it for that reason in particular.”

The album features eight new songs, along with a beautiful reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ Between Two Points, and features artwork and photography by renowned artist Anton Corbijn.

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 choir arrangements by Will Gardner. The title track also features the late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, recorded in 2007 during a jam session in a barn at David’s house.

Some of the contributions came from the livestreams Gilmour and family performed for global audiences during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021; Romany Gilmour sings, plays harp and performs lead vocals on Between Two Points. Gabriel Gilmour also sings backing vocals.

The album’s cover art, photographed and designed by Anton Corbijn, was inspired by a lyric written by Charlie Gilmour for the album’s closing track, Scattered. Speaking about working with his family on ‘Luck And Strange’, David said: “Polly and I have been writing together for over thirty years and the Von Trapped livestreams showed the wonderful blend of Romany’s voice and harp playing and that led us to a feeling that I had to put aside a part of the past that I felt bound to and that I could put those rules aside and do what I wanted to do, and that was such a joy.”

Gilmour’s continued popularity in our country is proven by the fact that the album has now reached number one on the Dutch album chart. He recently played two rehearsal gigs at the Brighton Centre in preparation for the planned Rome gigs (late September and early October), six gigs at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October and then Los Angeles in late October and New York in November. Hopefully he will also tour Europe next year and then also visit our country…

I can be brief about the album ‘Luck And Strange’: as far as I’m concerned it is his best and strongest solo album with great songs, both in terms of lyrics and music and playing. For me the highlight is the title song Luck And Strange and I really got goosebumps to hear Richard Wright’s great sound again, but the entire album is simply one highlight. I have listened to it several times and the sound is superb, I have also heard the surround version: a-ma-zing! In my opinion not only recommended for Pink Floyd fans.

Tracks:

01. Black Cat
02. Luck and Strange
03. The Piper’s Call
04. A Single Spark
05. Vita Brevis
06. Between Two Points
07. Dark and Velvet Nights
08. Sings
09. Scattered
10. Yes, I Have Ghosts
11. Luck and Strange (Original Barn Jam)