Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters met Nigel Godrich in 2014 when the Radiohead producer came in to mix the sound on the Roger Waters: The Wall concert film. They evidently got along, because Rolling Stone reports that Waters has been working with Godrich on his first studio album since 1992’s Amused To Death. “We’ve got some really good work in the can,” Waters says. “We did some work in London and in Los Angeles.” This is what he says about the concept behind the LP:

I had written a long, meandering piece that was a radio play with about a dozen songs in it. It was the story of an old Irishman who is babysitting. You don’t know this. The thing starts off with a two-minute monologue of discontent [chuckles]: “Our children and grandchildren, ceaselessly bent over their computers, blah, blah, blah, I fucking hate this, I fucking hate that.” That was the beginning of the whole thing, this disillusionment.

You eventually discover that he is babysitting. The kid wakes up. He goes in to look after the kid, and it’s his granddaughter. She is having a nightmare, and the nightmare is someone is killing all the children. He says, “No, they’re not. They haven’t killed any children since the Troubles [in Northern Ireland].” And the kid says, “Not here, Grandpa. Over there.” The grandfather promises they will go on a quest to find the answer to this question: Why are they killing all the children? It is a fundamentally important question.

So I wrote this whole thing – part magic carpet ride, part political rant, part anguish. I played this to Nigel, and he goes, “Oh, I like that little bit” – about two minutes long – “and that bit.” And so we’ve been working. I’ve also been falling in love, deeply in love. So the record is really about love – which is what all of my records have been about, in fact. It’s pondering not just why we are killing the children. It’s also the question of how do we take these moments of love – if we are granted any in our lives – and allow that love to shine on the rest of existence, on others.

So how much of the original radio play actually made it onto the album? Says Waters:

Oh, it’s been completely thrown out. The radio play will be made. I will make it, because I love it. But it’s a separate issue – it overlaps what we do. Nigel’s really good. He said to me, “People always want to do these long records. How long was The Dark Side of the Moon?” I said 38 minutes. But there are no constraints on records now because nobody pays you anything for them. So everything’s off the table. I so feel for young musicians, knowing that all of your work will be stolen, and nobody wants to pay you. It also means you can say anything you want. Well, I’ve always said anything I’ve wanted anyway.

He’ll debut songs from the album during his newly announced Us + Them tour next summer. Find the dates for that below.

05/26 Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
05/28 Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
05/30 St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
06/01 Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
06/03 Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
06/07 San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose
06/12 Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
06/14 Phoenix, AZ @ Gila River Arena
06/16 Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
06/20- Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
06/21 Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
06/24 Seattle, WA @ Tacoma Dome
07/03 Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
07/06 Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
07/11 Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
07/13 Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena
07/16 Atlanta, GA @ Infinite Energy Arena
07/18 Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum
07/20 Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
07/22 Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/23 Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/26 St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
08/02 Detroit, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
08/04 Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
08/08 Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
08/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
09/07 Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
09/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
09/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
09/15 Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
09/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
09/27 Boston, MA @ TD Garden
09/28 Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/02 Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
10/03 Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
10/06 Quebec City, QC @ Videotron Centre
10/10 Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre
10/16 Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
10/24 Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
10/28 Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena