How 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' Tried to Be Both 80s Pop and Classic Pink Floyd

With Roger Waters gone, David Gilmour didn’t just pick up the band’s reins — he dragged Pink Floyd into the 80s. A Momentary Lapse of Reason is drenched in gated reverb drums, stacked synth pads, and glossy backing vocals, all aimed at radio play. Jon Carin, a session player who’d worked with Pete Townshend and Bryan Ferry, brought that commercial sheen, programming Fairlight samples and layering keyboards to match the era’s production arms race.

But Gilmour also knew the Floyd trademark was space and tension. He kept his soaring, slow-bend guitar solos at the center, and the album’s best moments — like the opening of “Learning to Fly” — still breathe. The title track’s pulsing synth bass and atmospheric washes nod to Dark Side’s approach, even if the songwriting isn’t as tight. And while Nick Mason barely played on the record (session drummers like Jim Keltner filled in), the band’s cyclical, hypnotic structures survived because Gilmour and Carin deliberately preserved that “floating” quality.

Ultimately