Mood is morose yet so Floydian in sonic temperament - as songs go by you’d swear it was 1974
"Article published in The Irish Times. Author: Tony Clayton-Lea."
Now that Noel and Liam Gallagher have decided to bury the hatchet and re-form Oasis, is it beyond the bounds of possibility that David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason could re-form Pink Floyd – or will it be a case of “Careful with that axe, guys”? Whatever the outcome of the (admittedly, most unlikely) negotiations, there’s little doubt that Gilmour’s fifth solo album will please Pink Floyd fans no end. Throughout, there is, as the band’s song Time has it, an awareness that Gilmour is “hanging on in quiet desperation” as he gets older. (He will be 79 next year.)
All 10 of Luck and Strange’s ballad-like songs (most of the introspective lyrics of which were written by Polly Samson, his wife of 30 years) drip with a dread of curtain calls and sad farewells. From Dark and Velvet Nights (”How will we part? Will I hold your hand, or you be left holding mine?”) and The Piper’s Call (”The knots that we fasten will not work themselves loose”) to Scattered (”Time is a tide that disobeys, and it disobeys me”) and the title track (”Let’s hope it’s not just luck and strange, a one-off peaceful golden age, that’s a dark thought”), the mood is morose yet so Floydian in sonic temperament and pace that as the songs float by you’d swear it was 1974.
Added to this patchouli-scented atmosphere is a succession of effortless, rippling guitar solos that tonally align with the song narratives. (The solos in Scattered and A Single Spark, in particular, fluctuate from mellow to mind-bending.)
The album concludes with Yes, I Have Ghosts, which echoes the very best Leonard Cohen-like you-want-it-darker? elegies with a blend of folksy instrumentation (harp, fiddle), gilded harmonies from Gilmour’s daughter Romany, and a sense that the passing of time isn’t anyone’s friend. That said, the album is a (solo) career best from Gilmour. Pink who?
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