David Gilmour's 2024 album Luck and Strange takes its title from the track of the same name - a song that started life as a barn jam session recorded in the dead of winter with keyboardist Rick Wright, bassist Guy Pratt and drummer Steve DiStanislao.
"At the end of the On An Island tour in 2006, I thought we were playing so well together that I got the core band - Rick, Guy, and Steve DiStanislao - together in this barn at my place," Gilmour explained to The Sun. It sounded like a great idea at the time, except for one small hitch: "I hadn't really thought about the weather."
Turns out, barns aren't particularly known for their insulation. "It was effing freezing," Gilmour said, with a laugh. "You can see air creeping through all the holes."
Nonetheless, inspiration struck. Gilmour came up with a riff and the band jammed for 15 minutes straight, no rehearsals, no forethought. That jam became the backbone of "Luck and Strange," with the original take forming the intro, verses, and even the ending of the final track.
One particularly poignant feature of the song is the late Rick Wright's unmistakable touch on Hammond organ and electric piano. Wright, Pink Floyd's legendary keyboardist, was part of Gilmour's touring band at the time. "It's wonderful to have a track that he's actually a part of,"
Gilmour told Billboard, acknowledging Wright's contribution.
"Rick's unusual playing style pours out of it and makes me sad that he's not around to take more part in what I'm doing. Obviously, I worked on it later to add in these bridges and choruses and things. I don't know why, in 2015 or '14, that I didn't listen to that track and go, 'Yeah, let's go,' but this time it demanded to be heard and worked on, so we did."
The lyrics, courtesy of Gilmour's wife and frequent collaborator Polly Samson, delve into autobiographical territory. The song nods to Gilmour's postwar childhood, a time of free school milk and the formative influence of the "six-string masters of an expanding universe" - a tribute to the guitar heroes from his teenage years.
"Luck and Strange" sets the tone for an album that explores themes of fate, randomness and life's unexpected turns. At times it feels like an existential audit undertaken by Gilmour, a meditation on the providence enjoyed by the baby boomers who came of age in a period of peace and prosperity.
On the production side, Gilmour found a new collaborator in Charlie Andrew, co-producer of the track and the rest of the album. When Gilmour and Mark Knopfler mulled over "who the good producers are these days" during a visit to Knopfler's West London studio, neither of them could come up with a satisfying answer. Samson stepped in with a list of names, many of them prize-winning producers, and one name came up repeatedly: Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with Alt-J.
"What can I say?" Gilmour mused to Uncut magazine. "Charlie seemed like one of us. Younger, sure, but on the same wavelength." Andrew's Abbey Road experience was, as Gilmour put it, "always a tick in my box." But more than anything, Gilmour appreciated Andrew's lack of reverence for Pink Floyd's legacy. "There was no pious false respect. He shouts his mouth off about things, and it's great," Gilmour said with a chuckle.
One of Andrew's first observations? "Why do all the songs have to fade out?" Gilmour recalled. "Or the other one: 'Why do you have to have a guitar solo in everything?' It's refreshing to be with a person who's not overawed."
The first track they tackled was "Luck and Strange," but not without a small hiccup. "David kept mentioning Rick when he was talking about the track," Andrew remembered. "And I had to stop him and say, 'I'm sorry, David, who's Rick?'"
Rick, as Floyd fans are well aware, is Richard Wright, a founder of the band who died in 2008. This shows how little Andrew knew of the band, which allowed him to bring a fresh perspective. "I think that's been part of the enjoyment for David," Andrew said. "I'm not trying to regurgitate another Pink Floyd album, or one of his solo albums."
Luck and Strange became Gilmour's third solo #1 album in the UK following On An Island (2006) and Rattle That Lock (2015).
The Sun newspaper named Luck And Strange their best album of 2024, calling it Gilmour's "most satisfying meeting of musical minds since The Dark Side Of The Moon appeared in 1973."
