Of course a new album from DAVID GILMOUR will have some Pink Floyd flavor, it’s impossible to not to. But with the aid of Alt-J producer Charlie Andrew, who pushed Gilmour to try something new, his upcoming new solo album ”Luck and Strange” often draws the singer and guitarist away from fixed expectations.
That doesn’t mean Pink Floyd has been entirely wiped from the album; Gilmour’s powerful and flowing solos in “The Piper’s Call” and the seven-and-a-half-minute closing song “Scattered” can’t help but recall celebrated moments from the band’s catalog. Neither can the slippery “Dark and Velvet Nights.”
But the emphasis here is on coming to terms with aging and mortality (“A Single Spark”), which are persistent reminders that have been even more nagging since the pandemic. As Gilmour sings on the bluesy title track, “In the light before the dawn, shadows snake in my peripheral.”
The 90-second instrumental intro “Black Cat” is the gateway to ”Luck and Strange” and, with its softly stinging guitar and delicate piano, a preemptive nudge signaling Gilmour’s steps into somewhat unfamiliar territory (“A Single Spark” again).
“Between Points,” a cover of a 1999 song by British dream-pop duo the Montgolfier Brothers sung by Guilmour’s daughter Romany, is the album’s biggest left turn, though it shares a thread with Pink Floyd’s more commercial recordings.
The album features musicians including Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass, Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drums, and Rob Gentry and Roger Eno on keyboards, with string and choral arrangements by Will Gardner.
”Luck and Strange” also features keyboards recorded in 2007 by the Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, who died in 2008.
Through it all Gilmour sounds in fine voice, its still-rich warmness driving home the poignancy of many of the songs; his luminous guitar is even better, averting a total break from the past. If Luck and Strange suggests Gilmour’s future, it will be a bright one, even in the darkness.
Highly Recommended
Tracklist:
01. Black Cat (01:32)
02. Luck and Strange (06:56)
03. The Piper's Call (05:15)
04. A Single Spark (06:04)
05. Vita Brevis (00:46)
06. Between Two Points (with Romany Gilmour) (05:46)
07. Dark and Velvet Nights (04:41)
08. Sings (05:14)
09. Scattered (07:33)
10. Yes, I Have Ghosts (with Romany Gilmour) (03:50)
11. Luck and Strange (original Barn Jam) (13:59)
David Gilmour – Luck and Strange 2024,MP3+FLAC
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