Songwriter Terence Blacker has taken a new direction with music, recording twelve new songs with a group of European musicians in a studio in southern Italy. The result is Playing For Time, an album which combines his trademark edge and wit with a jazzier, more continental feel.
Following the success of his 2018 CD Enough About Me, praised by critics ranging from Tom Robinson (‘Huge fun – it put a big smile on my face’) to Gyles Brandreth (‘Witty, wistful, wonderful – a treat’), Terence Blacker assembled a group of top Italian and German musicians to record at the Goldmine Recording Studio, two hours south of Naples.
The songs on Playing For Time include those which take a sharp-eyed look at the modern world – titles include ‘Me Too’, ‘Europa, Mein Amour’ and ‘Fake News’ – but the album also reveals a more reflective side to Terence Blacker’s songwriting.
He gives much of the credit for this new direction to European influences. ‘I love songwriters like Georges Brassens and Paolo Conte who combine comedy and feeling in the music,’ he says. ‘The musicians playing on this album – people like Hartmut Saam on accordion and Giovanni Rago on guitar, the bassist Gianni Crescenzi and the drummer Domenico de Marco, not to mention Fortunata Monzo and her wonderful voice – have brought their own warmth and swing to my songs. It has been a very happy European project.’
A longer version of ‘Europa, Mein Amour’, released as a single in January, is on the CD, with additional vocals by Saam and Monzo.
Terence Blacker is also known as a novelist, newspaper columnist and award-winning writer of children’s books.
Artist’s website: www.terenceblacker.com
‘Europa. Mein Amour’ – official video:
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