Refraining was composed to explore the globalised world in which we live. Our vast communication systems celebrate how open we could all be: sharing our similarities and differences, encouraging dialogue, inviting responses to social issues. Despite an open communication system, it has troubling actors within who seek to close down discussion, divide people into widely-separated groups, and escalate suspicion and anxiety. The flute opens with a four-note motif, stating its position. The clarinet responds with a slight variation. The drama unfolds as they each insist on their individual manner of discourse. Dialogue breaks down into “word salads” as they act and over-react to each other, often thinking they are on the same topic and therefore saying the same thing. But they are not really listening to each other. There is almost an agreeable reconciliation near the end, but the 'ute insists on returning its initial position, leading to a failure to properly close. The flute perhaps may be an algorithm, prodding an online reader to respond, pretending to offer dialogue but instead exploring how to use the reader's values to its own end. We must be careful. We must refrain.