Jon Jenkins :: Flow (Remastered) (Spotted Peccary Music)

Flow (Remastered) reintroduces Jon Jenkins’ unmistakable blend of sincerity, power, and cinematic depth, a sound that has captivated listeners for more than twenty-five years. Living at the crossroads of ambient, electronic, and instrumental rock, the album remains a transportive journey through vast imaginary landscapes.

A return to deep wonder

 

Flow is a compelling sonic experience that is instantly recognizable as the work of an artist committed to sincerity and power. Jon Jenkins has always approached his work with a profound sense of responsibility, aiming to transport the listener to new imaginary places. Twenty-seven years have seen many changes in the world since the original release of Flow. In my opinion, Flow remains almost too muscular for strictly New Age, too ethereal for pure electronica, and too formally ambitious to be minimalized as mere chillout fare, and that’s a big part of why they regularly hear from listeners who still love the album more than 25 years later.

Flow (Remastered) sits at a compelling intersection, drawing on cinematic electronics, the textural density of instrumental rock, and the expansive spiritualism of classic ambient music. 

With Continuum, collaborating with Paul Lackey, Jenkins emerged into the scene, released in 1995 on Spotted Peccary. The musician Paul Lackey is known for his work in electronic and new age music, often described as a large-scale symphonic synthesizer tour de force, creating intense atmospheres, dark sonic textures, and rich symphonies of electronics. He has also been credited for sound-related roles on several video games, including titles in the Medal of Honor and Midnight Club series. Continuum is a remarkably transformative synthesis of sounds that pulls skillfully from ambient electronica, melodicism, instrumental rock, and even elements of classical structure, all anchored by a deep, multi-dimensional sonic quality that has remained Jenkins’ signature.

This deep harmonic vibration is what ties Flow to the later, multi-award-winning trilogy (The Crossing, Treasure, Found) created with his musical accomplice at Deep Exile, the remarkable David Helpling. Flow firmly established Jenkins‘ unique, unmistakable style. This drive to create something “bigger and deeper, both musically and emotionally,” is palpable, extending even to the meticulous technical aspects of the recording.

Flow achieves its structural integrity by using water as a metaphor—the source, the journey, the ebb. Perhaps the album’s true core resides near the nexus of Shamanic, Electronic Ambient and New Age. The recording atmosphere evokes a vast sonic landscape, incorporating elements of space music, chillout, instrumental rock, and cinematic scope, all woven together with intricate percussion and understated evocative guitars.

The album’s journey begins with “From The Spring (Remastered)” (4:26), an immediate plunge into a vast, cavernous sonic space. With David Helpling on ambient electronic guitar, the track employs echoes and subtle electronically enhanced tribal chanting, building tension as mechanical sounds approach from a distance. There is darkness upon the land, as we are slowly coming to a brighter place, reawakening voices and music, wind and strange things in the sky. It’s a primal scene, full of wind and darkness that rapidly gives way to an unexpected warmth of bright light.

This intensity transitions smoothly into “Into A World Of Wonder (Remastered)” (4:09). A reverent, silky piano tide flows in, smoothly joined by a strong but sparse drum beat that anchors the piece. The track’s structure is dynamic, alternating between periods of floating suspense and sharp, rhythmic beat-downs. The keyboard work is highly speculative and cinematic, serving as a dancer leading the music toward the inevitable culmination in the title track, “Flow (Remastered),” the album’s dramatic centerpiece, weaving strings and synths into a continuous, rising experience. The synchronized parts tick toward a singular goal, resulting in a spectacular blending of continuity and emotional warmth, like a sudden feeling of being in love on a great, sunny day. As the layers become more complicated, slowly it transforms into something bigger as tributaries combine and increase the depth, the movement becomes more coordinated, building an unmistakable sense of momentum and warmth.

“Night Drifting Through Black Canyon (Remastered)” (4:50) serves as a cool, twilight reflection. It has the slow, swaying pulse of an underwater choir, establishing a genuine, peaceful ambiguity: Am I listening, or are we dreaming? I find it hard to tell if we are in the desert at night or deep under water, adopting into a slow-pulse flow that sways on underwater currents, establishing a profoundly peaceful, nocturnal mood, breathing in and out, sustaining a calm and steady feeling. The guitar of Jeffrey Pearce evokes the Milky Way high above the inky darkness that surrounds us.

A fascinating structural renewal ::

This leads to the fascinating structural renewal of “Cross Over (Remastered),” a new dream world opens after a slow fade in where a repeating melody climaxes and then breaks, leaving a sudden, reverberating void. Howard Givens‘ guitar transports the constant listener into this new place, from the known to the unknown. Pianos and synths provide the steady framework for this new path, looking across the abyss, where sequencer patterns are subtle and less intense, giving way to shimmering, formless sound as stars rush overhead.

The nine-minute epic “The Power / Washed Away (Remastered)” (9:02) opens like a wanderer entering vast new territories, the percussion changes as we walk along. The pulse is evolutionary, charting the course as the music rises with mystery, before a very strong drum reasserts itself and settles into a long, rewarding march, gaining strength, taking its time, growing with power and mystery.

Going deeper still, “Breathing In The Deep (Remastered)” (10:55) is a masterclass in slow, expansive submarine minimalism, nothing is ever going to take form in this slow sinking and drifting, going deeper and deeper into new places. I feel the back and forth swaying, the ocean is infinite but there is an in and an out flow direction. Strange, huge creatures of low, slow sound swim nearby. The track’s surface simplicity hides expansive details that illustrate immense depth; a slow, eternal sway with clarifying ambient electric guitar by Jeff Pearce.

A quick change of pace arrives with the mysterious and reverent “A Word With The Vine (Remastered)” (2:35). This shorter piece brings the electronic keyboard elements into sharp, focused relief, establishing a sad, sympathetic vibration that contrasts with the earlier expansiveness. The grim, flickering darkness of “Blood And Water (Remastered)” (5:39) is next. The drums kick hard for a moment as we sink into the dark fluids, yet the keyboards remain solid, keeping the narrative focused as the gloom builds intensity. Powerful celestial lights emerge and fade, synth strings wash over liquid patterns, telling a sad story of doom. Quick, darting notes bubble like rapids, pulling us faster as percussion joins the flow.

The central anchor is the sixteen-minute behemoth, “Part Of The Solution (Remastered)” (16:31). This track is a true sonic gauntlet with Jeff Pearce on ambient electric guitar: flowing sheets of color, powerful percussive adventures, and a section of chanting choir chaos where the listener is happily falling backwards through the void. Eventually, a powerful piano and pounding drum duet builds the energy to an awesome, bright, flying crescendo, which then subsides into a slow, sustained drift—a surrender in the void, where a harmonic hum is all that remains, now all is darkness.

Form-shifting, liquid, expansive, and calming ::

Light grows subtly, an angelic glow in the clearing sky, and the final piece, “Ebb (Remastered)” (5:25), is the ultimate release, a slow fade into grey mists and an ethereal twilight. This track is a slow, gradual warming into the zone, a liquid expansiveness of size and form-shifting, liquid, expansive, and calming, eventually building back with a thunderous drum and piano before settling into a long, quiet surrender, a final letting go into a floating state with no firmament, a testament to the album’s profound sense of peace and closure.

Flow (Remastered) sits at a compelling intersection, drawing on cinematic electronics, the textural density of instrumental rock, and the expansive spiritualism of classic ambient music, creating in the late 1990s a commitment to deep, multi-dimensional recording. This successful marriage of classical, ambient, and world music convincingly invites the listener to make it theirs as well. Combining sublime keyboard textures with the ambient electric guitars of Jeff Pearce, David Helpling, and Howard Givens, Jenkins creates monuments of both subtle and majestic power. The album’s strength lies in its ability to lead the listener through sweeping sonic vistas driven by intricate, compelling rhythms, which then recede into moments of serene introspection.

When asked what the listener might discover with this remastered version, Jenkins replied, “the music hasn’t changed—it’s the same mixes of the same tracks in the same sequence. What has changed is the way it sounds. The skillful mastering by Howard Givens to shape the sound and reveal the space and beauty in the music is just mind-blowing. The high end is clear, the stereo image is wider and more defined, the depth of field is deeper, and the low end is solid. To achieve all that without losing any of the magic of the original mixes is a testament to Howard’s brilliant mastering expertise. He deserves all the credit.”

Flow (Remastered) is, in every sense, an album for the ages. Jon Jenkins has long ago established himself as a unique artist with a distinguishable style. Listen deeply to discover wonders that you never knew existed. Flow is an album that rewards deep listening, offering uncharted territory in the expanding world of electronic music, filled with a spectrum of human experience—from adrenaline rushes to beauty, loss, and triumph. “I’ve always been fascinated by the ability of a good piece of music to stimulate the imagination and transport the listener to another place in their mind.” As the years go by his sonic travel agency has continued to deliver.

Recorded and Mixed by Jon Jenkins and Howard Givens at Spotted Peccary Studios, Encinitas, CA; Remastered by Howard Givens at Spotted Peccary Studios, NW, Portland, OR; Design by Daniel Pipitone at Spotted Peccary Studios, NE, Ligonier, PA. Flow (Remastered) is another highly-collectible CD, also available for streaming and downloading, including high resolution studio master formats.

Flow (Remastered) is available on Spotted Peccary Music. [Bandcamp]