The album opens and closes with „Friendship“, a shape-note hymn by the American composer G. Cook, written in 1789. At the beginning, it‘s heard in a plain piano version recorded by Tom DePlonty, and at the end, in a recomposition (using the same recording) by Tim Risher. Fragments of it are also used in some of the other tracks. The tune of „Friendship“ is like a strand of thread, winding its way through the work to bind it all together.