"A New Machine", parts 1 and 2 are songs from
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
's 1987 album, ''
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
''A Momentary Lapse of Reason'' is the thirteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in the UK on 7 September 1987 by EMI and the following day in the US on Columbia. It was recorded primarily on guitarist ...
''.
Lyrics and music
They serve as bookends to the instrumental track "
Terminal Frost
"Terminal Frost" is an instrumental from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, ''A Momentary Lapse of Reason''.
Recording
The saxophones are played by Tom Scott and John Helliwell, the latter best known for his work with Supertramp. The track is bookended by ...
", and feature
David Gilmour's voice, electrically distorted, through a
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
and a rising synth note. The narrator seems to express weariness with a lifetime spent in one body, waiting for the moment of death, but seeks consolation in the fact that this "waiting" will eventually end.
The two songs were the first Pink Floyd songs to be credited solely to
David Gilmour since "
Childhood's End
''Childhood's End'' is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasionBooker & Thomas 2009, pp. 31–32. of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decade ...
", from their 1972 album ''
Obscured by Clouds
''Obscured by Clouds'' is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 2 June 1972 by Harvest and Capitol Records. It serves as the soundtrack for the French film '' La Vallée'', by Barbet Schroeder. I ...
''.
Personnel
;Pink Floyd
*
David Gilmour – vocals,
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
,
synthesiser
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
, programming
Additional musicians
*
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Ray Leonard (born March 14, 1956) is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums '' True Blue'' (1986), ''Who's ...
– synthesiser
References
Pink Floyd songs
1987 songs
Rock ballads
Songs about death
Songs written by David Gilmour
Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin
Song recordings produced by David Gilmour
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