Edinburgh-based Playtime have finished work on a new album, Morse Code Through the Lights, which was recorded during lockdown and features an international group of guests alongside the core Playtime quartet.
As Covid prevented musicians from playing live, Playtime continued their long-established Thursday sessions by inviting musicians from around the world to join them online. With everyone working in isolation, this was a challenge that Playtime managed to overcome.
Trumpeters Laura Jurd and Byron Wallen, saxophonists Denys Baptiste and Iain Ballamy, Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger, vibraphonist Corey Mwamba and Japanese trumpet and piano team Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura contributed to fourteen hours of music, from which tracks have been selected for Morse Code Through the Lights.
The CD will be released nationally in October but exclusive early copies are available on July 24th. These can obtained by pre-ordering now and are available through three levels of support.
For £100 patrons will have their names included in the CD booklet (orders for this option must placed today - 30th June). For £20 patrons will receive a CD plus bonus online tracks, which are available through the Myriad Streams web platform. Signed copies are also available for £30 and include bonus online tracks. All options include postage and packing.
“Ordering a CD from us now will really help support Playtime to continue to provide a high-quality stream of creative Scottish improvised music and to present this positively and imaginatively to the world via live and streamed concerts, interviews and podcasts, social media content and CD releases,” says Tom Bancroft, Playtime drummer. “If people would like to pay slightly more than the set prices, that would be brilliant.”