High-end audiophile/home theatre publication Sound & Vision have just posted a fascinating interview with David Gilmour on their website. In the chat with David, he confirms something that we'd heard a rumour about - a surround sound mix of his new album, On An Island.

David Gilmour on Sound & Vision site

"My initial intention was to release it in 5.1 at the same time as the CD, but we won't get around to finishing the mix until the tour and the summer holiday are over. We recorded all of the drums and orchestral stuff in surround. While I do like to keep the rhythm section more or less in stereo, I tend to bring some of the more fluid things — voices, keyboard textures — around from the front to the sides for a much wider effect. You have to get a feeling for the sounds that are possible and natural enough for your brain to deal with. I don't like to put too many instruments behind the listener."

Elsewhere in the interview, David talks of the development process of his work, and how On An Island came together. The interview also mentions the forthcoming re-releases of his first two solo album - the eponymous debut in 1978, and 1984's About Face. It mentions that they will include bonus tracks, although we now understand this not to be the case.

The full interview can be found at SoundAndVisionMag.com, but as yet, we're not sure if it also appears in the printed magazine itself. Our thanks to BD's Paul Powell Jr for his help with this story.

The solo album re-releases can be ordered, with a discount, through the following special links:

DAVID GILMOUR (1978): Amazon US/International, Canada, UK/Europe, France, or Germany.

ABOUT FACE (1984): Amazon US/International, Canada, UK/Europe, France, or Germany.