Aeolus is a one hour Theo Travis piece for duduk composed by Theo with Steven Wilson (who produced the recordings and assembled soundscapes derived from Theo’s alto flute playing). A stunning and utterly unique piece of work, the CD/Blu-Ray of Aeolus helps to define new possibilities for “immersive audio”, without losing focus on the pure sound and inherent musicality of Theo’s duduk improvisations. The Blu-Ray features Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound and 24/96 high resolution stereo of Aeolus, and hi-res stereo of the hour long Ancient Soul, Modern Times (which has amassed over a million views on YouTube).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 and more. Something about the sound, the performances, the context, found, built and maintained a much wider audience than most, far more mainstream music. All of this was achieved without hype, marketing or a dedicated record label supporting the release. Extending the idea, earlier this year Theo worked with Steven Wilson to produce a new duduk improvisation in multi-channel audio as well as stereo.
