Pink Floyd has revealed further details on their new album today. Endless River, which was initially projected for “sometime in October,” is now officially set to release on November 10th, 2014. They have described the effort as “mainly ambient and instrumental music based on the 1993/4 Division Bell sessions.” This will be Pink Floyd’s first new release in 20 years.
The band has announced that Endless River will be available on standard CD, double vinyl, and a deluxe box set. The deluxe edition will include an extra 39 minutes of new material. The album art has also been made public and features a man on a boat, sailing through clouds into a sunrise.
The album is to be produced by David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, and recording engineer Andy Jackson. It has recently been reported that Phil Manzanera was heavily involved in the creative process. Roger Waters, the last original member who left the group in 1985, declared several months ago that he would not be involved with the new album. They have also stated that they have no plans for an accompanying tour.
An upcoming cover story about the album from Uncut Magazine has recently been leaked via Consequence of Sound, disclosing even more information. According to the article, the project started back in August of 2012 when Gilmour asked Manzanera to listen to the 1993 Division Bell sessions, which served as the core inspiration for Endless River. Gilmour and Nick Mason began the recording process in November 2013. Mason’s drumming was the first element to be completed, and they reportedly spent one month overdubbing guitars and recording the drum parts. One interesting feature on the new album is the inclusion of Richard Wright’s original organ recordings, taken from rehearsals dating back to June 1969.
There has been an ongoing rumor that Endless River will draw heavily from Gilmour’s unreleased experimental album, The Big Spliff. Another rumor circulating claims the new album will contain material from “The Soundscape,” an instrumental track originally released on the 1995 album, Pulse Casette. The duo has now clarified that both of these are untrue. In fact, the The Endless River will contain four different pieces on each side of the record that focus on the “more atmospheric and digressive aspects of Pink Floyd and includes snippets of conversation.”
They have also divulged that “Louder Than Words”, which is the only non-instrumental song on the record, contains lyrics that embrace the full history of the band. Gilmour sings: “We bitch and we fight / But this thing that we do / It’s louder than words / The sum of our parts / The beat of our hearts / It’s louder than words.”
The album will include the following 18 tracks: “Things Left Unsaid,” “It’s What We Do,” “Ebb And Flow,” “Sum,” “Skins,” “Unsung,” “Anisina,” “The Lost Art of Conversation,” “On Noodle Street,” “Night Light,” “Allons-y (1),” “Autumn’68,” “Allons-y (2),” “Talkin’ Hawkin’,” “Calling, Eyes To Pearls,” “Surfacing, Louder Than Words.” You can preorder Endless River here.