David Gilmour is not about to show his again on his legacy with Pink Floyd, however it’s clear in talking with him that creatively, he is obtained his ft firmly planted within the current.

“I just felt liberated from any idea of owing something to my past,” he tells UCR. “I was able to just move forward [and] do something different.”

The Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist is celebrating the arrival of Luck and Strange, his first new solo album in practically a decade. It’s a piece of labor that is coloured by the surprising interval of isolation that got here with the COVID-19 pandemic. During that point, he discovered himself sequestered together with his household. They started internet hosting livestreams, dubbed the “Von Trapped” collection, a intelligent nod to the 1965 movie, The Sound of Music and the Von Trapp household.

As a results of these surprising musical moments, Gilmour was energized and considered how he may apply what he was feeling to the route of his subsequent solo LP. Discussions with Polly Samson, his spouse and longtime collaborator, fueled additional exercise. “That led to finding a new, younger producer [Charlie Andrew] who was not tied to any of the old ways of thinking. In fact, he had no real idea about Pink Floyd, Pink Floyd’s career, me or my solo career or any of those things,” he explains. “A lot of elements from this are just starting from a fresh standpoint that I would describe as being liberated in some way. That’s not to say that I’m not full of pride and joy with the long career and the things that have happened in the past. But my focus is definitely looking forward.”

As he was getting ready for upcoming stay dates supporting Luck and Strange, Gilmour joined Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw to speak about his new music and what followers can count on from the pending stay exhibits.

You spent a day jamming along with your band in your barn, again in 2007. One specific musical second from that day helped to kind the roots of the title observe for this new document. What was the impetus for that jam?
It was actually that we had been on tour, in the course of the On an Island tour. When we obtained to the top of that tour, I used to be considering, “It feels like it’s a waste for these guys, who are cooking and hot…you know, we’re really in a groove together and playing really well.” I believed it was a waste to not do one thing else with that and the cohesiveness that we had. I obtained the core of the band, Rick [Wright], me, Guy [Pratt] and Steve DiStanislao to go to my home, into a barn. Of course, there have been issues that hadn’t occurred to me. It was January and the barn, the boards don’t even meet. There’s howling, icy winds blowing via it and it’s about 5 levels beneath zero. [Laughs] But we managed.

So that was the plan and we did that. There are nonetheless 30 or 40 different bits of music, however that one was the primary morning. It was the very first thing that we did. I had that little piece of guitar. [Gilmour imitates musical section that became part of “Luck and Strange”]. I used to be simply listening to that taking place and listening to myself taking part in that and considering, “That’s quite nice.” Gradually, all of them joined in, one after the other and we performed it for 20 minutes. And that’s the observe. Obviously, we’ve labored on it a bit. We’ve added bridges and center eights, choruses, however there was no rehearsal [with the original recording] and no second take. That is the take. They joined in so naturally and “Luck and Strange” all got here out in that second.

Listen to David Gilmour’s ‘Luck and Strange’

What introduced you again to that exact piece of music?
It’s very exhausting to know or have the ability to clarify why some items of music put their hand up and insist that now could be their second. I can’t clarify it, actually. That one, I imply, I had it in that fundamental kind with the choruses and bridges earlier than I did Rattle That Lock, however for some cause, it didn’t elevate its hand and say, “Do me.” This time it did. I work a little bit that method. On the music “Sings,” there’s a pattern of me, during which I recorded [myself] writing the refrain for that music in 1997 when my son was 2. You can hear him going, “Sing, Daddy, sing.” He’s now practically 30. [Gilmour chuckles]. That was a refrain of a music that I tied it along with one other piece of music that I wrote perhaps six or seven years in the past. There’s a lot of probability and a lot of accidents that occur on the way in which to this factor taking the shape that it did.

You’ve spoken about how you might have over a thousand “little tunes and stuff” that you’ve catalogued. How did you get all of that organized? Because it looks like that may have been an attention-grabbing course of.
To be sincere, I’ve obtained plenty of items of music going again into the ‘80s. I’ve obtained some entire songs, I’ve obtained some newer ones that I’ve carried out and I’ve obtained my trusty iPhone. I’ve recorded over a thousand tiny bits of one thing. I imply, it’d simply be a sound of a chook singing. I haven’t really actually been via these but, however one in all today, I’ll — or I feel I’ll — after I want one thing. [Laughs] It seems like a hell of a lot, however to be sincere, you play via them and 19 out of 20, you say, “That can go straight in the bin.”

The method you are taking part in acoustically with the orchestra, constructing as much as the solo, on “Scattered,” is fairly gorgeous. Just typically, that made me marvel how you’re employed out your guitar solos. Is there any a method?
No, there’s no a method. I imply, it’s not like I sit down with a piece of paper and have that music [with] its parts and elements, I’m afraid I simply form of let it occur. You know, you get to that time and I’m holding the nylon string guitar in my hand. I feel, “Just keep playing, that’s nice.” I don’t know if I ought to point out this, however it’s a lot extra haphazard than you’d think about. The moments for the various things simply select themselves and assert themselves onto you.

Listen to David Gilmour’s ‘Scattered’

You and Polly have been collaborating for a very long time now. But you’ve got obtained a lot of the household concerned with this document. What do you assume that added to the general spirit of it?
The household factor is one problem. That actually got here out of the COVID expertise and the locking down, the place I used to be along with my household a lot extra. The subjects of those pandemic-type diseases — at first, we thought had been going to be actually far more harmful than they finally turned out to be. At the identical time, Polly’s ebook, A Theatre for Dreamers, was popping out. Some occasions that we had booked in for promotion to get that recognized a little bit on the earth needed to be canceled. Charlie [Gilmour], our son, urged that we do some livestreams. We didn’t know what that meant, in any respect. But that’s what we did. It tied in with Polly’s beautiful ebook, doing readings from it and answering questions from individuals on-line whereas that was all happening, [with] me singing a music or two.

Usually, it was a cowl of a Leonard Cohen music, as a result of [he] seems in her ebook to some extent. I had Romany [Gilmour] there with us and she’d been studying the harp, taking part in it superbly. It turned out that we had been doing these songs with Romany singing concord with me and taking part in the harp. That confirmed me what we may do collectively and how the sound of her voice with mine appeared to have one thing further to it that’s not the standard factor whenever you get different individuals singing with you. You know, the Everly Brothers sound fairly good collectively, the Beach Boys. There’s a hundred components as a result of world and time and political conditions that led us in the direction of the way in which this album obtained made. There’s a liberation in there as nicely, with these livestream issues and my daughter being a a part of it.

Polly’s been a a part of [my collaborative process] for [more than] 30 years. Getting Charlie in to assist write some lyrics, I simply felt liberated from any thought of owing one thing to my previous. I used to be capable of simply transfer ahead, do one thing totally different and that led to discovering a new, youthful producer who was not tied to any of the outdated methods of considering. In reality, he had no actual thought about Pink Floyd, Pink Floyd’s profession, me or my solo profession or any of these issues. A number of components from this are simply ranging from a recent standpoint that I’d describe as being liberated in a roundabout way. That’s to not say that I’m not stuffed with pleasure and pleasure with the lengthy profession and the issues which have occurred previously. But my focus is certainly trying ahead.

Watch David and Romany Gilmour Perform ‘Yes, I Have Ghosts’ on the ‘Von Trapped’ Series

What are you able to inform us concerning the upcoming exhibits?
I haven’t actually gotten these exhibits very nicely labored out but. I’ve obtained a very free listing of songs and issues that I’m anticipating to do, which do embody one or two from the ‘70s. [Laughs] Everyone seems to want to know about that! I imagine that I’ll be doing all of this album, however perhaps in a couple of chunks. It’s not fairly clear but. But a lot of the music can be newer and youthful than 50 years outdated.

One space in your catalog that you do not appear to revisit within the stay setting is the primary two solo information.
You know, I really like each of these earlier two solo information. I’ve obtained nothing in any way towards them. I listened to About Face and the sound is dated — that’s not overcomable — however a few of the subjects which might be being mentioned are additionally method old-fashioned. Some of the themes aren’t fairly as common as you may need to be doing at present. You’re proper, I haven’t performed any of them for years and in all probability gained’t this time both. [Laughs] It’s simply that factor that they don’t sound like me now.

t’s attention-grabbing how within the digital press package for this new album, you’ve got obtained a lot of drugs and pedals round you. But it does not seem to be you require a lot to get your sound.
No, I imply, I sound like me. That’s a nice constructive, however it’s inescapable. I can’t not sound like me. [Laughs] You know, I’ve all the time been a little bit of an aficionado for pedals, however I don’t prefer to overuse them. I simply bang one in after I need a bit extra increase or one thing. Half those, I don’t even know what they’re that I’m utilizing, to be sincere. I’ve a nice tech man, Phil Taylor, who takes care of all of these issues for me and says, “Try this.”

One of the opposite issues about your guitar taking part in is the financial system of your strategy. You’ve demonstrated which you could categorical a lot in your taking part in with out utilizing a lot of notes. What was the second whenever you realized the truth that much less may be extra?
When I spotted my fingers had been simply by no means going to go a lot sooner. You’ve obtained to seek out your personal path on this factor. I really like making music and I really like taking part in guitar, however to me, it’s like, I’m taking part in melodies over a mattress of one thing. While it might be good to sometimes whiz from one sluggish delicate melody to a different via a flurry of 36 notes in 5 seconds, it’s simply probably not fairly me. I do want I may do it a bit higher typically. [Laughs]

With this album, there’s the unmistakable feeling of mortality that we’re all dealing with sooner or later. I hear that in a music like “Sings.” It looks like it might have been an emotional factor recording a few of these songs.
I really like that music. I feel Polly was frightened that it was too candy. But I instructed her it’s a work of genius. I’m so proud of the way in which this document has shaped itself. The method Polly has gotten herself into my mind and clearly, hers — and created topics that she writes about so superbly, so poetically, however so eloquently. They all tie in collectively. The topic of every music shouldn’t be the identical as the topic of different songs. We’re not speaking a idea album right here, however we’re speaking about a cohesion between all the songs that creates one thing perhaps a bit higher than all the elements.

Watch David Gimour Discuss ‘Luck & Strange’