The adventurous pianist, composer, and bandleader added guitarist to his band on 2005's . is back and melding further with his own funky -based playing on , which is a far-reaching record combining elements of , and even post-20th century music to 's array of shades and colors to play with. The repetitive sampled loop by which acts as the ground for both the opener and is a bit h jarring when the band lights up under her. As she chants "Break down the barriers/Break down, misunderstanding/Break down, the artworld/Break down, the artist/Break down, the general public . .," the band uses it (looped continually through the piece, even in the solos) to ground everything in a circular rhythmic principle. Just as unsettling is 's soprano vocal in near -like lieder as the introduction to atop 's lilting piano before the band kicks it in prosaically at the one-minute mark. She frames her wordless vocal just as 's left hand begins to spin out a melodic figure for everyone else to play around, though the entire piece sounds like an intro. Bassist and drummer earn their keep trying to ground this piece as it spirals to near and far Eastern shores. But it gets so much stranger as the improvised bass intro to begins to introduce the players almost sideways, and where melody and harmony appear almost as if by accident. Yet it's all motion, building, falling, spilling, and being contained within a harmonic grid that is nearly wide open. The breakdown theme restates itself only to become more fleshed-out as narrative essay in but the solo piano that follows is so speculative it never really takes off. The long-ish improvised intro that finally gels as is the album's most exciting tune. From its cryptic, elliptical movement into a full-fledged angular yet funky tune, it is breaking apart by its end nearly 12 minutes later. People may initially have a hard time with . But it moves so freely and yet so purposely that it draws the listener into its unique soundworld slowly but deliberately, and offers plenty for the effort. ~ Thom Jurek