Pink Floyd’s new track “Hey Hey Rise Up” will be released on Friday in support of the people of Ukraine, according to a statement released by the band on Thursday.
It’s the band’s first new music since 1994, and all earnings will benefit Ukrainian humanitarian help, according to the statement.
According to the announcement, guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason performed the tune. It also features bass player Guy Pratt and keyboard player Nitin Sawhney.
Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox contributed vocals to the song. The band used recordings of Khlyvnyuk singing in central Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. He delivered “a rousing Ukrainian protest song written during the first world war which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest” against the Russian invasion.
In a statement, Gilmour said he was impressed by Khlyvnyuk’s performance “in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and … in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war”. Gilmour has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
He explained, “It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.”
Pink Floyd’s first new music in 28 years
The Ukrainian singer quit the band to join the army. But he is in the hospital after facing injuries by shrapnel, as per Pink Floyd.
“We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers,” Gilmour said.
“We want to express our support for Ukraine and in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become.”
The single’s artwork includes a depiction of a sunflower, Ukraine’s national flower. The band claims it is a “direct reference” to an elderly woman. She offered sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers.
The band’s first original music in 28 years is “Hey Hey Rise Up”. The band released “The Endless River” in 2014. It was mostly ambient and instrumental music based on recordings recorded during “The Division Bell” in 1994.