Pink Floyd have released their first new single in almost 30 years in support of the citizens of Ukraine.
The track Hey, Hey, Rise Up arrives 28 years after their most recent studio album, 1994’s ‘The Division Bell’, with guitarist David Gilmore, drummer Nick Mason and bassist Guy Pratt uniting with newcomer Nitin Sawhney (who takes keyboard duties in place of the late Richard Wright).
“I hope it will receive wide support and publicity,” says David. “We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities, and raise morale.
“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.
He adds: “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.”
The song features Andriy Khlyvnyuk singing the Ukranian song The Red Viburnum in Sofiyskaya Square, Kyiv, sampled from a viral Instagram video.
“He stands in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and sings in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war,” adds the musician. “It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.”
