The piece is based on a shifting drone consisting of two chords of a different character imposed on one another, broken by sudden exclamations. These use the all the pitches found in the drones, but the vocal rhythms are taken from the words of torture victims describing their ordeals. The words used are those of victims of torture in China; Rwanda; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Cameroon; Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq; and Iran. Most of the words were found on the web site of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. A brilliant video recording by the clarinet choir of Singapore Republic Polytechnic can be viewed (and heard) at https://youtu.be/jiMCfCaxL3I