It's been a very busy decade for Theo Travis. The British reed/woodwind multi-instrumentalist has appeared, to varying degrees, on literally every album that Steven Wilson has released since turning to a solo career in 2009--from Insurgentes and 2011's Grace for Drowning (Kscope), through 2013's best-selling The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories), 2015's commercial breakthrough Hand. Cannot. Erase. and 2016's interim EP, 4 1/2 (all on Kscope)--while touring the world for three years with the rising progressive rock star, documented in his self-released book, Twice Around the World: Steven Wilson Tour Blogs 2012-2013 and including appearances in Montreal, Canada in 2011 and 2013.
During that time, he's also managed to tour and release a series of soundscape recordings with King Crimson's Robert Fripp, from 2008's Thread through 2014's Discretion (all on Panegyric); tour with David Gilmour in support of the Pink Floyd guitarist's Rattle That Lock (Columbia, 2015); and continue to record/tour with Soft Machine Legacy, the largely alumni-based collective of ex-Soft Machine members (Travis being one of the few, in the new millennium group's decade-plus existence, who did not play in its original run from 1966 through 1981); and both tour and record with British progressive rock group, The Tangent.
Beyond guest appearances on albums by artists including No-Man, a reformed Jade Warrior, ex-Japan drummer Steve Jansen, Gong and David Sylvian, it's hard to believe that, during that very same period--and, In addition to 2011's All I Know, an impressive and, especially for those new to Travis' music, informative two-CD anthology covering sixteen years of jazz-centric solo releases (most on the 33 Jazz imprint) from 1993's 2am through 2004's Earth to Ether, 2007's Double Talk and 2009's very limited live release, Ascending, Live at the Pizza--Travis also continued to gig occasionally with his Double Talk group, releasing its first studio album in eight years with 2015's Transgression (Esoteric Antenna).
On many of these recordings and live performances, Travis has used a sophisticated array of looping and other sonic devices to create what he calls "Ambitronics"; a process by which he can create multilayered, often spontaneously composed, music. But it's his duo work with Fripp and his ongoing collaboration with fellow Gong alum/bassist Dave Sturt as Cipher, which has currently released three albums, including 2006's Elemental Forces (Burning Shed)--in addition to writing scores for eight silent films from the 1920s that were performed live in a series of independent movie theaters across the U.K.--and, most notably, his solo flute outing, Slow Life (Ether Sounds, 2003), that first set the precedent for Open Air, another ambient-based, loop-driven solo flute recording that, limited to vinyl and downloadable formats, demonstrates continued growth for Travis while being possessed, at the same time, of some significant differences.
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Originally Posted by Boceephus
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