Pink Floyd Release First New Music in 28 Years
Last week,
Pink Floyd released their
first new song in nearly three decades. Titled 'Hey Hey Rise Up', the track has been released in aid of humanitarian relief for Ukraine.
'Hey Hey, Rise Up' - the idea of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour - features vocals from Andriy Khlyvnyuk, the frontman of Ukrainian rock band Boombox. Taken from an Instagram post of Khlyvnyuk singing a traditional Ukrainian protest song in Kyiv's Sofiyskaya Square. The song's title is taken from a translation of the protest song's lyrics.
Gilmour originally met Khlyvnyuk when they played a benefit concert in aid of the Belarus Free Theatre in 2015 at London's KOKO, when they played a brief, raw set that consisted of Pink Floyd songs and Gilmour's solo tracks. On the track, Gilmour and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason are joined by long-time bass player for the band Guy Pratt, as well as Nitin Sawhney on the keyboard.
Gilmour told Rolling Stone in an interview, 'This is a one-off for Pink Floyd. I'm casually working away all the time. I'm hoping to get an album finished at some point, but my focus at this very moment is just on this.'
'I thought this could be something that we use our platform for, for enormous good,' Gilmour explained. 'Nick [Mason] said he was willing to do it as Pink Floyd, it seemed like a no-brainer.'
'We want to spread this message of peace, and we want to raise the morale of the people who are defending their homeland there in Ukraine.'
