The nature of the work, and of this recording, is deliberately performative. The shakuhachi, a deceptively simple-looking Japanese bamboo flute and a highly physical instrument, features in all the movements. This flute, and the combinations shakuhachi / live electronics (that is to say, electronic processing of the shakuhachi sounds in real time), were performed simultaneously by one player (me) and recorded in single, complete takes, without separate takes of the electronics, and usually as a direct mix to stereo. This is effectively identical to the way the pieces are performed in concert, and attempts to capture the nuances (and unavoidable ‘imperfections’) of real-time performance as opposed to the (apparent, and often disembodied) perfection of studio construction. In some of the movements, all instruments, including the additional electronic resources beyond real-time processing of the shakuhachi, were played and recorded simultaneously in real time by one performer (shakuhachi and theremin / live electronics in Ripples and shakuhachi / live electronics and Haken ContinuuMini in Surface Trace). Even where multiple synthesizers were employed, multitracked layering was kept to a minimum. For example, the complex synthetic textures of Mirrored Depths were recorded as only two layers (real-time performed stereo mixes, admittedly using sequenced elements that were manipulated during performance, rather than being performed note-for-note). ©: Jim Franklin/Neos Music