Between gigs on winter terraces , walks on frozen streets , chamber music rehearsals , and the recognition of the good and the bad in man and machine , my quartet was born . It came at a time of reconciliation , of a dawning acceptance of the beauty , the necessity of exploration of advancing technology in music . Before then I had trouble with the synthetic nature of contemporary music ; it seemed to me a symbol of the degradation of the importance that we give to nature in society . However , as I listened more and more to electronic music , as I rehearsed Philip Glass with my friends , I came to accept that there is a coexistence as natural and wonderful as a cup of tea . Yes , it still worries me , the level to which we have come to depend on technological advantage , and I feel we have a long way to go before we reach equilibrium .

In the meantime , I wrote this piece and prepared it with completely synthetic effects in the hope of reaching that balance , at least from an aesthetic perspective . It starts somewhat coldy , a siren , a train motor , a deep respiration and a sigh . It twists , it turns , and by the end humanity and its steel and plastic progeny are one .