Gordon Grdina brings his guitar and oud to team up with saxist Jon Irabagon, a rhythm team of Tommy Babin/b and Kenton Loewen/dr as well as a string section of Peggy Lee/cel, Eyvind Kang/va and Jesse Zubot/vi for five originals. For the most part, each of the songs begin with strong themes, usually with the brooding reeds, as on the 23 minute marathon title track or the thought mix of strings and oud on “Ever Onward,” but somewhere along the way the tunes start unravelling into freedom, fragments and flailing. Grdina shows his lyrical ways as he solos on “Seeds 11” , and the strings are a bit Bartok-ian during the scramble for cover on “Resist The Middle” with Irabagon’s tenor puffing and sopranino shrieking at sharp angles. A musical wrestling match resulting in a draw.