An EP featuring the final pieces of music Gang Of Four's Andy Gill was working on before his death will be released on February 26th.
The three song EP titled This Heaven Gives Me Migrane features three tracks -- all are reworked versions of previously released Gang Of Four songs. Gill approved the new mixes from his hospital bed shortly before his death. The title of the EP is taken from the lyrics to Gang Of Four's 1979 track "Natural's Not In It."
A new feature article published by Rolling Stone, features a statement from Gill's widow Catherine Mayer discussing Gill's wishes:
"It would be wrong to speak of Andy’s dying wishes because he didn’t know he was dying, but his wishes were clear.
From his hospital bed, he continued to plan future tours and to give final notes on mixes of music that he looked forward to releasing. Since his death, I have been working with the band to honor his wishes."
In the same RS article bandmate John Sterry told the magazine Gill's death was shocking and unexpected:
“We had the full faith that [Gill] would recover and get to see this come out, so that was part of the reason we decided we needed to do this.
I had inklings but I didn’t really know how serious it was, and by the time I realized that it was almost too late to really say goodbye. But I was there in the hospital for the last few days. It was incredibly sad and incredibly quick."
Gill ultimately died of pneumonia on February 1st.
Today Gang Of Four premiered the first track off This Heaven Gives Me Migrane, an updated version of their 2015 track "The Dying Rays." Stream the 2020 version of "The Dying Rays" below and read Rolling Stone's full article on the forthcoming EP here.