Pink Floyd’s last album, a mostly-instrumental collection of 20-year-old material is a cruise down the band’s sorrow, regret, relief and grandeur.
David Gilmour and Nick Mason are all that’s left of one of the most illustrious rock bands the world has known. Keyboardist Rick Wright passed away a few years ago and their relationship with frontman Roger Waters is rocky to say the least. Yet it was these difficulties that allowed The Endless River to be what it is-an instrument-focused album that tributes Wright by letting his keyboard playing come to the forefront.
One can truly appreciate Mason’s drum rolls, Wright’s atmospheric keyboard and the signature ooze of Gilmour’s guitar notes. The tracks (organized as a four-sided record) either flow into each other or change in fragments, yet still move along like one solid body of work, simultaneously rocking you like a lullaby and hitting you in all the achey bits of your heart.
The Endless River is a fitting tribute and the perfect goodbye. Pink Floyd’s swan song really is louder than words.
Lola Olvera 