With Everything Is Possible, Peace Flag Ensemble reaffirms its distinctive position at the intersection of jazz and ambient minimalism. Drawing from the pastoral landscapes of Saskatchewan, the six-member collective crafts a record that is tender yet unpredictably inventive. Returning personnel—including Dawson on electronics and guitar, Neher on piano, Packer on bass, Gutheil on saxophone, Lam on trumpet, and Thievin on drums—ensure the continuity of ensemble interplay, but this new album signals an evolving focus. Neher’s piano emerges as a melodic anchor, guiding the music through moments of reflective beauty, while Dawson’s barely-there electronics and tape manipulations coat the arrangements in a shimmering haze.
The album opens with the single “The Past Is What Changes Most,” where synth signals and flugelhorn melodies float over a gently swinging rhythm. This subtle approach permeates the record—even tracks that flirt with dissonance or groove never abandon their sense of containment and humility. The Ensemble resists flashy gestures, instead privileging textural nuance and the patient layering of sonics. The interplay between brass and reed instruments brings warmth and lyricism, with each musician attuned to the contours of collective improvisation. The result is music that signals comfort and companionship, inviting the listener into intimate spaces of thought and feeling.
This third full-length LP demonstrates a thoughtful progression from the ambient textures and loose forms of their debut, Noteland, through the expanded, cinematic gestures of Astral Plains. Now, with Everything Is Possible, Peace Flag Ensemble leans into structure without denying the pleasures of unpredictability. The compositions move with the gentle force of Saskatchewan wind, their shape defined as much by negative space as by movement. Rhythms glide, melodies ripple, and the lines between jazz and ambient become pleasingly blurred.
Far from consolidating into formula, Peace Flag Ensemble continues to surprise, balancing melodic accessibility with the spirit of experimentation. Everything Is Possible is a testament to the group’s openness—to each other, to landscape, to possibility. In a genre often driven by technical fireworks or conceptual abstraction, the band finds its power in restraint and collective sincerity, offering listeners an experience that feels both immediate and expansive.
