“To The Four” - Ian Rae
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
At 78 years old, Ian Rae isn’t just writing music—he’s rewriting what it means to begin again. His new album, To the Four, is more than a collection of tracks; it’s a milestone, a toast to four whirlwind years of late-blooming artistry. It all began on September 13th, 2021, when Rae—at the age of 74—released his first single, Floating on a Cloud. What started as a personal adventure quickly turned into something bigger: 17 albums, 10 singles, 3.6 million Spotify streams, and a steadily growing community of listeners who find solace in his music.
And solace is really the word here. Rae’s music doesn’t aim for flash or bravado—it aims for peace. His songs have become lifelines for many, particularly those with ASC, ASD, and ADHD, a community that Rae himself has found kinship with through the realization of his own neurodivergence. That personal revelation seems to resonate in every note of To the Four.
The album spans 9 tracks, each one crafted with Rae’s characteristic gentleness and melodic simplicity. Six are brand new, while three—The Joyride, He Was Gone, and I Think of You—carry echoes of older projects, given new life in this celebratory collection. The music lives in that sweet spot between meditation and storytelling: part ambient, part folk, part hymn.
The opening track, Breathe, might be the most striking. Though it’s an instrumental, it carries a ghost of lyrics, almost like a mantra woven into its phrasing: Breathe out anxiety, breathe in fresh air / Dream of a world without worry or care. It’s not hard to see why Rae has previewed this piece in his live performances on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch—it functions as much as a breathing exercise as it does a piece of music. In a world constantly tugging at our nerves, Breathe feels like an exhale that lasts three minutes longer than you thought you had.
Elsewhere, Rae opens doors into different emotional landscapes. The Joyride, originally written years ago as an Easter song, has a lighthearted, almost whimsical feel—it’s like someone cracking open the curtains on a Sunday morning. He Was Gone, born from one of his musicals, carries more gravity, tracing themes of absence and remembrance without ever tipping into despair. And then there’s I Think of You, a cover from his own earlier album Now and Then, which threads nostalgia through his current work—reminding us that Rae’s catalog is vast but never self-contained.
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
What makes To the Four compelling isn’t just the music itself, though. It’s the context. Rae’s journey shows that artistry isn’t bound by age, nor is it bound by the industry’s obsession with youth. He’s proven that you can discover new audiences in your 70s, that you can build community on TikTok alongside teenagers, that your story still matters—and maybe even matters more—when it’s unexpected.
Listening to this album, you don’t feel like you’re hearing a man chasing streams or chart placements. You’re hearing someone who has cracked open a part of himself that had been waiting decades to sing, and in doing so, has given thousands of others the space to breathe, rest, and heal.
Final word: To the Four isn’t just a celebration of Ian Rae’s four years of music-making. It’s a reminder that it’s never too late to begin, never too late to reinvent, and never too late to find your people—especially if what you offer them is as timeless and restorative as this.
“To The Four” is available now on all major streaming platforms
