There's an interesting story behind these recordings which almost makes them magical (in a depressing sort of way!). The day Basinski was putting these old analog tape loops he had kept away for many years to digital format was on september 11th, 2001. Two planes had crashed, killing countless innocent victims on that very same morning. As the buildings were crumbling to pieces so were the particles from Basinski's tape loops as he recorded them. It is really fascinating to hear these melodies slowly disappearing piece by piece. The already melancholy-filled melodies took on a whole new twist and became the soundtrack to the biggest tragedy yet of the first millennium. The album cover shows the smoking rubble of Ground Zero as seen from Basinski's home in the late afternoon and provides visual aid without any of the gruesome details.