Mojo and The Guardian on David Gilmour's On an Island: A Peaceful Divorce from Pink Floyd

When David Gilmour released On an Island in 2006, critics at Mojo and The Guardian agreed it wasn’t a Pink Floyd album in disguise — but that was the point. Mojo called it “unashamedly polite” and praised its unhurried, meditative atmosphere, noting that Gilmour had finally stopped trying to fill the post-Waters void. The Guardian gave it four stars and described the record as a “solo album in the truest sense,” a gentle, jazz-tinged retreat from the grandeur and anxiety that defined Floyd.

Both reviews emphasized how On an Island sidestepped the epic, concept-album architecture of Pink Floyd’s prime. Instead of building cathedral-like soundscapes, Gilmour wrote intimate, weather-worn songs about peace, loss, and new love. Mojo observed that the album’s “quiet confidence” was a direct contrast to the “troubled history” of his former band. The Guardian singled out the title track’s lap steel guitar and the “horn-like” vocal harmonies with David Crosby and Graham Nash as proof that Gilmour was leaning into soft rock and jazz, not prog or psychedelia.

Where the album did sound like Floyd, critics argued, was in Gilmour’s guitar playing — that liquid sustain and melodic sense were unmistakable. But the context was different: no Rick Wright’s layered keys or Nick Mason’s economical drumming; instead, Phil Manzanera and Rado Klose helped shape a sound that was more like a living room session than a stadium show. The consensus: On an Island was Gilmour proving he could be timeless without being monumental, and that was its quiet victory.