Peace Flag Ensemble - Astral Plains
We Are Busy Bodies
Released July 13th, 2023
I read a quote once about what makes the prairies beautiful, and I lost the source but the gist has stayed with me – while mountains and oceanside scenery might demand your attention with their obnoxiously postcard-worthy backdrops, the beauty of the prairies is not demanding at all, but rather unassuming and slow to reveal its reward, requiring patience, stillness, and the right set of eyes to really get it. The plains won’t draw busses full of tourists looking for ‘grammable vistas – its focal point is more likely something like a lone crocus in a ditch, a bloom of violet colour eking out existence in an expanse of dry yellow grass. So, if and when you do get it, the intention put behind that moment might make it stick to your soul like spurs of burdock.
Here we have an experimental jazz album making me wistful for the prairies. Astral Plains is the second album from Saskatchewan-based “free jazz collective” Peace Flag Ensemble, and it’s an expansive and spacious listening experience that, like the prairie landscape that the title evokes, will reward a patient and contemplative observer. Upon a foundation of improvisational piano accompanied by a tasteful rhythm section, the Peace Flag Ensemble sound emerges from a collage of melodic trumpet and saxophone lines, electric guitar textures, and subtle but well-used ambient effects and field recordings. The resulting whole of these parts is nuanced, stylish, and typically mellow in mood.
On the more subdued tracks, as heard in the gently shimmering synth and meandering sax of escapist theme “Too Beautiful for a Cubicle,” the collective seems to implore the listener to stop for a moment and take a break, take a breath, and just take a look around. Similarly-vibed, the unfolding “You Can’t Pin Joy Like a Moth” is a reminder of the ephemeral nature of all things, but especially all things good and lovely.
Visited with restraint, the more upbeat moments invite exploration, wonder, or curiosity. “More Bill Joy Than John Wisdom,” with its recursive bass guitar groove, chiming electric piano chords, and inquisitive trumpet line, felt a lot like the playful neo-noir soundtrack for a 1990s point-and-click adventure game; I found myself wanting to walk around and spend time seeing all that I’d never noticed before. And while the chaotic “Love Notes (For Eli)” is a short departure into discordant skronk, it is definitely the most ‘free’ that Peace Flag Ensemble gets in their approach to jazz. Overall, Astral Plains is carefully composed, joyous, unpretentious, and altogether elegant – and if you approach it with the right set of ears, it just might stick to you like so much burdock.
- Julie Maier
