Now here’s some news that makes looking beyond the festive maul less difficult. Saskatchewan sound sculptors Peace Flag Ensemble have announced that their new album ‘Everything is Possible’ will arrive via We Are Busy Bodies on 7th Feb. This will be their third for the label and the fascination will be in finding out in what direction this most fluent of bands have guided their jazz-toned, post rock dynamics.
Their shimmering debut ‘Noteland’ from 2019, balanced ambience and improvisation exquisitely, conjuring up justified Keith Jarrett/Talk Talk references with its percussion-free, textural atmospheres. Two years later drummer Michael Thievin joined the original quintet of Michael Scott Dawson (electronics and guitar), Jon Neher (piano), Travis Packer (bass) Paul Guitheil (sax) and Dalton Lam (trumpet). The result was the more expansive, landscape scale music of ‘Astral Plains’, an album which saw reflective Nordic jazz interacting with some dramatic Sigur Ros expressionism.
The Ensemble for ‘Everything Is Possible’ is once again formed of the same six players but that’s not a sign of third album consolidation. This time around founder member Jon Neher’s piano will be at the forefront of the tunes, maybe signalling a more pronounced melodic trajectory. Plus with the other originator of Peace Flag, Michael Scott Dawson, continuing to bring a subtle electronic experimentalism as an undercurrent, The Ensemble’s music is always set to surprise.
The first preview single for the album, ‘The Past Is What Changes Most’ emphasises that the group’s imaginative powers have not diminished. Coming in on a high-pitched synth signal might seem an unconventional way to start a gorgeous jazz ballad but that’s how Peace Flag Ensemble go about things. From here an almost swing rhythm strokes the tune along as Dalton Lam’s flugelhorn and Neher’s piano soothes with their dovetailing song-lines. There’s an airy glide to the track, a Kenny Wheeler-esque weightlessness, which is carefully detailed with the miniscule whirrs and whoops of Scott Dawson’s electronics.
Understated but intriguing and gently assertive, ‘Everything Is Possible’ is likely to prove the perfect name for Peace Flag Ensemble’s incoming collection.
Pre-order your copy of ‘Everything Is Possible‘ by Peace Flag Ensemble from your local record store or direct from We are Busy Bodies HERE
