Theo Travis: Aeolus (2024)

When Theo Travis began experimenting with long-form improvised instrumentals for duduk – a woodwind instrument from Armenia sometimes described as ‘the saddest sounding instrument in the world’, he could hardly have imagined a world in which such a one-hour piece would clock up in excess of a million plays on YouTube. Yet that is precisely what happened, with the multi-functional music finding fans purely in its own terms as well as for an array of uses from meditation to yoga, to relaxation & more. Something about the sound, the performances, the context, found, built & maintained a much wider audience than most, far more mainstream music, all without hype, marketing or a dedicated record label supporting the release.