Rattle That Lock is the fourth solo studio album by English musician David Gilmour. It was released on 18 September 2015 via Columbia Records.[2][15][16] The artwork for the album was created by Dave Stansbie from The Creative Corporation under the direction of Aubrey Powell, who has worked with Gilmour and Pink Floyd since the late 1960s.[2]
The album received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, becoming Gilmour's second UK no.1 solo album.[17][18] Gilmour supported the album with the Rattle That Lock Tour throughout 2015 and 2016, with a performance from the tour at the Amphitheatre of Pompeii being made into the live album and video, Live at Pompeii (2017).
Recording
The album was recorded at Gilmour's recording studios. Phil Manzanera, co-producer of the album, estimated that Gilmour had been writing the material for Rattle That Lock over the previous five years, though he pointed out that one piano piece was recorded 18 years ago in Gilmour's living room.[19] Most of the album was recorded at Medina Studio, in Hove – the additional recording was at the Astoria houseboat studio, in both cases by long time collaborator, engineer Andy Jackson and Damon Iddins. The final Pink Floyd album, The Endless River, was similarly recorded and produced using a combination of the two studios.[2][20] Orchestra parts were recorded at AIR Studios in London[21] and the Liberty Choir were recorded in a South London church.[21] The album was mixed at Astoria and mastering for all formats was performed by James Guthrie and Joel Plante at das boot recording in Lake Tahoe, California.[20]
The title track "Rattle That Lock" was inspired by and makes use of the SNCF jingle, composed by Michaël Boumendil. Gilmour heard and recorded the jingle on his iPhone at Aix-en-Provence station while travelling to visit friends.[2][22] When Boumendil first got a phone message from Gilmour, he thought it might be a prank, so didn't return the call.[23] The lyrics for the track were written by Gilmour's wife and long time collaborator Polly Samson and are based around the themes of Book II of John Milton's Paradise Lost. The musicians Mica Paris and Louise Marshall, together with the Liberty Choir, perform on the track.[2]
David's son Gabriel performs piano on the song "In Any Tongue," his recording debut.[24]
Promotion
Radio
"Rattle That Lock" was the first single released from the album, it had its first radio airplay on BBC Radio 2's The Chris Evans Breakfast Show during the morning of 17 July 2015.[2] The single was made available for digital download immediately afterwards.[2][25] Also, David granted U.S. radio DJ Redbeard an interview and premiered the album in the United States on an episode of In the Studio the week of the album's U.S. release.
For the week beginning on 3 August 2015, BBC Radio 2 made "Rattle That Lock" their Record of the Week, guaranteeing the song at least one play per day.
Music video
On 31 July 2015, a music video for "Rattle That Lock" was released on Gilmour's website and promoted via social media outlets. The video was created by Trunk Animation under direction from Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney, produced by Richard Barnett and involved 12 animators, artists and compositors. Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis served as Creative Director for the video. The video depicts the fall of Lucifer from the Kingdom of Heaven and his subsequent journey through Pandæmonium, Purgatory and Chaos to corrupt the virgin Earth and become Satan, as told in the epic poem, Paradise Lost.[26]
Artwork
The album's cover features a landscape photograph by Rupert Truman of StormStudios[27] with painted corvidae escaping a locked cage.[19] The album book's photographs were taken by Kevin Westenberg,[27] with Polly Samson contributing recording session photographs.[27]Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis is credited as creative director.[28]
The Rattle That Lock tour was scheduled to begin on 12 September 2015 in Pula, Croatia with a special album preview show on 5 September 2015 in Brighton, England. It ended on 12 April 2016 in New York City, US with a three-month break between the South American and American legs. Gilmour also performed a one-off charity show at Wrocław, Poland on 25 June 2016.
On 17 September 2016, Gilmour performed a concert in France at the Roman Theatre of Orange (Théâtre antique d'Orange). For the occasion, due to the relationship between the song "Rattle that Lock" and the SNCF jingle, SNCF joined with Sony Music for the special event. On the eve of the concert, a few selected people took a private TGV (High Speed Train) from Paris to Orange and were afforded VIP status during the concert.[1]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 39.Týden 2015 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
