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English rock band Pink Floyd has reunited to release its first new song since 1994's The Division Bell to raise money for the people of Ukraine.
The band's single "Hey Hey Rise Up" features members David Gilmour and Nick Mason alongside the band's longtime bass player Guy Pratt, with vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band BoomBox. The song will be released Friday to raise money for the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund as Russia's invasion of the country continues into the second month.
"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," Pink Floyd said on their official Twitter page.
1/3 Tonight at midnight, Pink Floyd will release a new song, 'Hey Hey Rise Up', which sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by Guy Pratt & Nitin Sawhney, with an extraordinary vocal by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox.
— Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) April 7, 2022
Listen/download at https://t.co/i1l92D3AYU
The new track will feature Khlyvnyuk, a Ukrainian musician, singing in front of Kyiv's Saint-Sophia Cathedral from a video clip that went viral.
Following Russia's invasion, Khlyvnyuk cut short his music tour in the U.S. to return to Ukraine and join a territorial defense unit.
Gilmour said Khlyvnyuk's video was "a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music," according to a press release.
The song Khlyvnyuk sings in the video, "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow," is a Ukrainian protest tune written during World War I. The title of the Pink Floyd track is taken from the last line of the song, which translates as "Hey hey rise up and rejoice," the band said.
The video for the new single was filmed by acclaimed director Mat Whitecross and shot on the same day the track was recorded last Wednesday.
"We recorded the track and video in our barn where we did all our Von Trapped Family live streams during lockdown," Gilmour said. "It's the same room that we did the 'Barn Jams' in with Rick Wright back in 2007. Janina Pedan made the set in a day and we had Andriy singing on the screen while we played, so the four of us had a vocalist, albeit not one who was physically present with us."
The artwork for the single features a painting of a bright yellow sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, by Cuban artist Yosan Leon.
The band says the cover art is a direct reference to the viral video of a Ukrainian woman giving Russian soldiers sunflower seeds, telling them to carry the seeds in their pockets so that when they die, sunflowers will grow in their place.
The single will be available on all streaming and download platforms beginning at midnight.
Newsweek reached out to Pink Floyd for comment.
