The music on this album reflects upon and responds to the state of the world--its wars, polarization, and climate change. It fills me with melancholy and sorrow, yet within this darkness, I also see hope--through the people I encounter in my life and the power of the positive initiatives that still take place. Hope grows in intimate conversations, in the creative space of music where we intuitively understand each other through listening, in children's play, and in resistance against narrow-mindedness. In the resilience of nature, society, and people during this uncertain time of change.

Photographer Anders Petersen has generously allowed me to use his image Hamburg as the album cover. To me, the image speaks of an unfathomable moment of mutual connection--of resonance in the midst of everyday life. And perhaps hope lies precisely there, in our wonder and resonance with the world around us. Three compositions--Ruins, Evening Hymn, and With Hope--draw inspiration from traditional hymns of Gammelsvenskby in Ukraine. Parts of the theme in Arctic Call are based on phrases from an Inuit drum song from Greenland, and the original idea for Woods in Blue comes from a polska from Harjedalen, Sweden. The closing piece, O Magnum Mysterium by Francis Poulenc, was originally written for soprano solo and choir.