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Dave Gilmour – Luck and Strange

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What does it sound like?:

Gilmour’s fifth studio album comes after a 9 year hiatus, and a proclamation from DG that this is the best music he’s made since “Dark Side Of The Moon”. Bold. And just in case any Floyd fans still might not be paying attention, the closing track (which rather confusingly has the same title as the second track) is an instrumental that Gilmour built from a jam he recorded with the late Rick Wright back in 2006 when the latter had toured with DG.

It’s essentially a Gilmour family project – Polly Samson once again provides lyrics, whilst children Romany, Gabriel and Charlie add vocal or lyrical support – augmented by a number of top drawer session musicians that include Steve Gadd, Guy Pratt and Roger Eno. Although the opening track “Black Cat” is only a touch over 90 seconds, it’s sets the scene for nearly everything follows. Swirling, synth soundscapes a bed for DG’s trademark, often melancholy tone.

The first version of “Luck and Strange” follows, a sparse bluesy shuffle. Just as it settles into a loping groove the entire vibe is knocked sideways by DG’s vocal that is clearly well out of his range, an unwelcome distraction from some first class guitar and organ interplay. “The Piper’s Call” works a better, a gruff vocal, lot’s of twinkle and shimmer and some glorious slide guitar before Gilmour leans into a more muscular solo alongside the familiar Floydesque multitrack vocals

Third track “Single Spark” is in most respects more of the same, and 46 seconds of “Vita Brevis” is neither here nor there. Finally the clouds part on “Between Two Points”, which stands out not just because it’s the only non Gilmour / Samson track (it’s a cover of a song by obscure UK indie duo The Montgolfier Brothers) but it introduces Romany Gilmour as vocalist – she plays harp (as in lager not gob iron) as well. It’s the first track that has me thinking “I’ll play this one again”.

Thereafter, the squall of feedback at the start of “Dark & Velvet Nights” teases a possible up shift in pace and mood, but it fades away and “Sings” walks things back to another windswept shuffle with gruff DG vocals. Samson’s lyrics are dominated by mortality and the aging process, which strikes a rather dark, melancholy air, and whilst there are plenty of DG’s trademark swoops and note bends, none of the songs really match the expression he achieves with his solos. 7 minutes of “Scattered” allows the DG to finally make the familiar transition from moody soundscape to some guitar punch, but it’s not really enough and a little too late.

It’s only with the closing and second (and unrelated) version of “Luck and Charm” that things pick up again with Gilmour jamming over Rick Wright keyboards from 18 years back for 14 minutes, which retains a loose, expansive feel whilst slowly building to a fine finish.

DG plans to record another and tour this one. The album is pleasant enough but I’d imagine anyone buying a ticket is going to be praying Gilmour’s in the mood to play plenty of old.

What does it all *mean*?

Gilmour still has one of the most recognisable guitar sounds in music. It’s there from the opening moments of this album.

Goes well with…

A full bodied red and an autumnal night.

Release Date:

Out now

Might suit people who like…

The Montgolfier Brothers

3

Comments

  1. I found the whole record rather melancholy and introspective with its ruminations on the past and reaching the final years of life.
    I agree that the Montgolfier Brothers cover featuring Romany on vocals is one of the best things here, along with Yes I Have Ghosts which also features her. The rest is fine in it’s own way, his voice is still good and his playing as excellent as ever, but it’s all rather one paced and tends to blur into one, which I think applies also to his previous albums.

  3. I haven’t followed Floyd closely since , I guess, Animals.
    So Polly Samson then. Reading the interview posted by KFD, she seems a big if not dominating presence on him and, I expect, PF. How many Floyd lyrics has she written. Are they any good ?

      • I think Rog thinks writing lyrics is a man’s job and that women should be seen and not heard.

        I don’t rate her as a lyricist at all. But she’s probably better than Gilmour.

        • Lyrics have always been his Achilles heel…Samson started writing with him on The Division Bell and has continued with his last three solo albums as well as The Endless River. I don’t really rate her efforts very highly to be honest. I think his very first solo album is still his best.
          Incidentally 37 years today since AMLOR was released.

  4. Been listening to this today and I think Bargepole got it spot on. It’s pleasant and the sound is luxurious, of course. Less meh than I thought it might be, tbh. The title track ( the first version, not the jam,) is the best track.

  6. Been listening to this quite a lot over last couple of days. Not rated DGs previous solo stuff bar the Live in Gdańsk album. However this new one is for me the best PF related music since the Division Bell. Gilmour’s voice and guitar have both mellowed and matured like fine wines over the years and Polly Sampsons lyrics are touching and very relevant for many of us AWs who are in the autumn (late Autumn in my case) of their years. In the main the songs and melodies are pretty strong throughout and I love the the almost Leonard Cohen like final track ‘Yes I Have Ghosts’ . Could have done without the extended Rick Wright jam piece at the end – lovely to hear them together for one final (?) time but tbh it runs out of steam after a few minutes. Definitely in my year end Top 10.
    One final thought the song Between Two Points melodically sounds very much like a Steven Wilson or Porcupine Tree track but I can’t think which one – anyone else hearing that?

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