Just announced, and coming in October, is a new collaboration between David Gilmour, and ambient wizards The Orb. You might recall that last year, David had been in the studio jamming with Martin “Youth” Glover, who was at the time working on an ambient mix of the 'Chicago' re-recording, which was released to raise awareness of the plight of Gary McKinnon.

Dr Alex Paterson (the one constant through the history of The Orb) was not involved in the sole jamming session and the only plan initially was for David to play guitar on 'Chicago'. However, the result of that jam session has now been spread across the next Orb album, Metallic Spheres, which will be released as "The Orb featuring David Gilmour".

Metallic Spheres is designed to be heard in two parts – 'Metallic Side' (24'48"), and 'Spheres Side' (25'09") – each 'side' containing five movements. The album features David's guitar and lap steel guitar, plus some of his vocals from 'Chicago'; Alex Paterson contributes sound manipulation, keyboards and turntables, while Youth adds bass and keyboards and handles the production.

It will be released in multiple formats worldwide in October this year: October 11th in the UK, and October 12th in North America. All artist royalties will go to helping Gary McKinnon's campaign against his extradition.

In addition to the standard CD album, there will be a 'Deluxe' 2CD version: the first disc is the same as the standard, the second is a 3D60™ version, a new sound production process developed by Youth, Mike Brady (The Jam's live sound engineer) and Ian Thompson (musician and multimedia producer), which allows you to listen in three-dimensional sound. As with the earlier QSound format, you don't need special equipment, and it is said to "sound amazing on any headphones in any format".

The album will also be available from iTunes, and there will also be a vinyl version, exactly the same as the standard CD, but including a download card permitting you to download an additional ambient bonus track. More details as we get them...