Pink Floyd’s new track “Hey Hey Rise Up” will be released on Friday in solidarity of the people of Ukraine, according to a statement released by the band on Thursday.
It’s the band’s first new music since 1994, and all earnings will benefit Ukrainian humanitarian help, according to the statement.
According to the announcement, guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason perform the tune, which also features bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney.
The song is a display of “anger at a superpower invading a peaceful nation,” according to Gilmour.
But it’s also meant to be a morale booster for Ukrainians and a plea for “peace.”
Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox contributes vocals to the song. The band used recordings of Khlyvnyuk singing in central Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, where he delivered “a rousing Ukrainian protest song written during the first world war which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest” against the Russian invasion during the past month.
In a statement, Gilmour said he was impressed by Khlyvnyuk’s performance “in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and … in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war.” Gilmour has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
He explained, “It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.”
The Ukrainian singer, who quit the band to join the army, is in the hospital after being struck by shrapnel, according to Pink Floyd.
“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,” Gimour added.
“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.”