A New Machine

"A New Machine", parts 1 and 2 are songs from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

Lyrics and music

They serve as bookends to the instrumental track "Terminal Frost", and feature David Gilmour's voice, electrically distorted, through a vocoder and a rising synth note. The narrator seems to express weariness with a lifetime spent in the one body, waiting for the moment of death, but seeks consolation in the fact that this "waiting" will eventually end. These three tracks were the only ones from the album that were never officially released live.

"A New Machine has a sound I've never heard anyone do. The noise gates, the Vocoders, opened up something new which to me seemed like a wonderful sound effect that no one had done before; it's innovation of a sort."

— David Gilmour,

The two songs were the first Pink Floyd songs to be credited solely to David Gilmour since "Childhood's End", from their 1972 album Obscured by Clouds.

Personnel

• David Gilmour — vocals, vocoder, programming and synthesiser

with:

• Patrick Leonard — synthesiser