How David Gilmour Ended Up on The Orb's 'Metallic Spheres'

The collaboration started with a simple request. The Orb’s Alex Paterson ran into Gilmour at a party and asked if he’d contribute to a new album. Gilmour said yes, and the project quickly snowballed from a single track into a full 48-minute electronic suite.

Gilmour’s sonic contribution was all about texture and space. He played lap steel, regular electric guitar, and processed the hell out of his signal through delays and filters — the kind of atmospheric, sustain-heavy playing that floats rather than solos. He also let The Orb treat his parts as source material for their signature dub-driven edits, blending his blues-tinged phrasing into their ambient techno world. The album was recorded piecemeal at Gilmour’s home studio on a boat, then reassembled by The Orb.