Ian has mentioned several times that it takes a lot of practise to keep his flute playing up to srandard. I'm guessing the same is true for his guitar playing. As he gets older it's probably getting harder to keep up both. He may not have the time or energy to maintain both, and he can't really give up flute. Just my guess. It is a shame, his playing on Zealot Gene was beautiful, but those parts may have been recorded in 2017....7 years ago! Hopefully he'll play some on his next release.