The album opens with acoustic guitar chords which blossom into a vintage sounding crooner (incongruously titled "Sea Shanty"), featuring a use of smooth female vocals not unlike Return to Forever, or more recently, the dream pop of Stereolab.  The classic jazz fusion device of complex unison lines between the voices and instruments is used heavily, the singer showing her virtuosity as she skillfully bends up and down labyrinthine sequences.  Between iterations of the waterfall-like, stair-stepping lead melody, there appear fluent solos from the trumplet and piano, gushing cascades of consonant notes.

"Perimeters" shows a knack for highly structured orchestration, harmony, and call and response that sounds closer to 20th century composers like Aaron Copland than it does jazz.  The intricate rhythms, ostinati and odd chord choices are immensely clever.  The constant presence of strings throughout the recording, as well as the warm, romantic tone of the oboe, gives the album its classical flavor, its sense of cinematic intensity, and a lush timbre.

"The Ballad of Gurtid Singh" starts with deep, soothing string chords which create an immediately stirring emotional reaction, a sense of nostalgia, yearning and nature's hugeness; that deepest emotional core which all powerful music seems to allude to.  Interrupting the heady mood of this intro, the singer appears with a lengthy, non-repeating sequence of notes and rather wordy lyrics (the phrase "politicians, cops and immigration" is crammed into a tiny space), which gives way to loungey instrumental jamming on the same melodic themes.  This illogical melody returns several times, making more sense each time it plays, woven into the larger framework of the song.  As such, Blake's compositions can be wildly technical and progressive, but usually do so without being disorienting, and are never ugly.  This track is probably still the only real misstep on the album, derailing what could have been a deeply affecting piece with overly stuffy vocal delivery and overthought note choices, one case in which a more easily followed melody would have suited the song better.

All of the instruments are played with unabashed raw passion, with the possible exception of the singing, which is extremely precise, but largely emotionally restrained.  There is a good deal of plaintive, blues wail and rustic folk feeling in this music, which often sketches images of a desolate Western frontier in my mind (possibly a result of Blake's inclusion of a song called "The Lonely Cowboy" on his previous album).  "Fulfillment" is a great name for the album, as it exudes a sense of completeness, contentment, peace and freedom from worry.  It is the least fatiguing sound possible; it instead relieves fatigue.

"Exaltation" introduces a number of new and surprising elements.  Its first half is tranced out, spacious Indian classical style drumming and a droning murmur of guitar notes which spiral around an open chord.   The 2nd half of the song is likely  the highest dramatic peak of the album, signalled by the bleating saxophone and thoroughly epic, blown out emotive chords from a distorted guitar, sounding transplanted from a post rock or shoegaze album.  These flares of intensity are a stark contrast to the usual 'cool' feel of jazz.

Cool, contemplative jazz is not absent, either, though.  The final piece, "The Soldier and the Saint", is not unlike "A Love Supreme" era Coltrane, with its mystic air and meandering scalar scintilla.  For its hard bop traditionalism, it's one of my favorite moments of the album, capturing the zen of its influences.

All in all, a gorgeous record which is every bit as good as "In the Grand Scheme of Things", possibly even better.  Michael Blake's playful and deeply musical style is a perfect marriage of intellect driven experimentation and straightforward displays of sweet melody and unabashed feeling.  The addition of guitar, vocals and strings to the more traditional jazz timbres of the piano, drumset, string bass and saxophone turns out to be wonderful, making for a very rich harmony.  One really gets the sense, when listening to an album like this, that the amount of possible music is endless, and great, naturally flowing art is alive and well.