David Gilmour, now 79, is still chasing new horizons, and his latest creative leap has him drawing a direct line between his new album Luck and Strange and Pink Floyd’s 1973 masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon. The record marks Gilmour’s first solo release since 2015’s Rattle That Lock, and he says the new material carries the emotional weight, cohesion and atmosphere that defined Floyd’s most iconic era. Working with producer Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with Alt-J, Gilmour leans into textures and moods that feel both modern and unmistakably tied to his long legacy.
Speaking to Classic Rock, Gilmour said Luck and Strange represents the kind of start-to-finish artistic unity he rarely feels compelled to compare to anything in his own catalog. But this time, he hears a through-line strong enough to sit beside The Dark Side of the Moon. The album’s tone, its emotional continuity and its willingness to explore the bigger questions mirror what made Dark Side such a cultural touchstone, even if the two records belong to very different eras of his career.
Part of that continuity comes from the album’s atmosphere. Luck and Strange blends introspective lyrics with expansive soundscapes, creating a world that gently echoes the immersive quality of Floyd’s early-1970s work without repeating it. Gilmour brought longtime collaborator Guy Pratt onboard for bass duties, reinforcing the Floyd connection, and he deepened the personal dimension by involving his own children in the recording process. The result is a piece of work that honors his past while still carving out new emotional territory.
Gilmour is quick to note that Luck and Strange isn’t meant to mimic The Dark Side of the Moon, but he’s equally clear that the album’s thematic unity and emotional depth rank it as some of his strongest work since that defining chapter. After nearly six decades of pushing boundaries, he still sees the pursuit of a cohesive, meaningful record as the standard — and on Luck and Strange, he believes he’s reached it again.
