Composed during the composer's first year as a Juilliard student in 2006 and premiered by the Attacca Quartet at the Museum of Modern Art’s "Summergarden" series in 2007, this work is a study in unfolding intensity. The piece begins with a melancholy sound, anchored by a simple, four-note repeated figure. The listener waits for the first violinist to join this soundworld; when they finally enter, they introduce a new melodic gesture defined by expressive leaps, standing in sharp contrast to the mostly stepwise opening motive. This new gesture becomes the subject of an intricate contrapuntal section.

As the work progresses, a gentle web of tuplets rising and falling at different speeds cradles a transformation of the first violin’s line, now soaring in the "stratosphere" of the instrument's highest register. The music grows increasingly volatile until it reaches a wild climax where the opening motive returns with crushing force. Reviewing the premiere for the New York Times, Vivien Schweitzer described the work's trajectory as one of "Shostakovitchian angst" before a denouement that ends suddenly "in quiet melancholy."