The legendary Pink Floyd guitarist and singer, David Gilmour, has influenced countless generations of guitarists worldwide. He was a crucial part of the band’s sound, enhancing classic albums like “The Dark Side of the Moon” (1973) and “The Wall” (1979).
The British progressive rock group certainly wouldn’t have been the same without him. Now, as a solo artist, he remains creative and open to exploring new music, something not all veteran musicians embrace. When promoting his album “Luck & Strange” in 2024, the musician mentioned a 2000s band he likes to listen to.
The 2000s band that David Gilmour likes to listen to
After almost a decade, David Gilmour finally released a new solo record and played live again. The record was produced by the Pink Floyd member and the British producer Charlie Andrew, who is best known for his work with the band Alt-J, which is the one mentioned by Gilmour.
He explained in an interview with The Guardian that he chose Andrew because he likes the British Indie Rock band Alt-J. “I don’t really listen to an awful lot of modern music. But the band I have been listening to is Alt-J, and they are what brought me to Charlie Andrew as a producer for this album.”
“The work that they do with his help, I have found inspiring. He showed a massive lack of respect for my past and what I’ve done. Believe me, that is something one needs in life. To have people that come at you on a level playing field!” David Gilmour said.
Alt-J was formed in Leeds, England back in 2007 by Joe Newman (Guitar, bass, vocals), Thom Sonny Green (Drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (Keyboards, bass, vocals) and Gwil Sainsbury (Guitar, bass). Since 2014 the band’s official line-up is only formed by the remaining three members.
Their debut album “An Awesome Wave” was released in 2012 and since then they have released three more records. They are: “This Is All Yours” (2014), “Relaxer” (2017) and “The Dream” (2022). The band’s name is inspired by a triangular-shaped symbol, something present even in their songs. Alt J is the key sequence used to generate the triangle symbol on an Apple Mac computer (Alt+J).
At first Gilmour didn’t know them
Gilmour was not familiarized with them as he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2024. According to him the producer Charlie Andrew didn’t know Pink Floyd’s music that much or Gilmour’s solo career, that was something that also motivated the legendary guitarist to pick him. Because he wanted to do something different and free from his legacy.
“Well, he’s a younger person. He comes from a different era, and a different whole background. He certainly didn’t know very much about baby boomer stuff that had come quite a long time before him. And he was in the middle of his whole scene, which is all sorts of other people like alt-J that he worked with, and Marika Hackman, and loads of other music that I was blind to. And he was kind of blind to mine,” David Gilmour said.
Some of Alt-J’s most famous songs are “Breezeblocks”, “Left Hand Free”, “Fitzpleasure”, “Something Good” and “Tessellate”.