The same ten ceremonies. The same scalded water, the same estranged lovers, the same dying host. But instead of ambient electronics, a single voice: the cello. Bowed, plucked, scraped, singing. One instrument interpreting ten variations.

Constraint as depth. Limitation as richness.

Each track opens with solo cello—aggressive sul ponticello for the scalded ceremony, ghostly harmonics for the silent one—then the same narration speaks to you. You enter the tearoom. You watch the host’s hands. You begin to suspect.

The cello was chosen because it’s the instrument closest to the human voice—and because a single voice forces attention. When there’s only one source, you listen differently. You hear the grain of the bow, the breathing of the phrase. That attention is transferable. After listening to ten ceremonies through one instrument, you start hearing single voices in crowds—the one conversation that matters, the one silence that speaks.

Listen to both versions—this one and the standard edition. The scalded ceremony lands differently when introduced by synthesizer than by aggressive bowing. That landing difference teaches you something about how frames shape meaning. And knowing that, you move differently through framed experiences everywhere.

There are variations we cannot render because we don’t know if they exist. Does the host ever perform the ceremony purely for themselves, with no guest at all? Does the student ever surpass the master and feel grief instead of triumph? We suspect so. But these cannot be made—only discovered.

Tracks: Scalded · Delayed · Silent · First Timer · Unseen Servant · Estranged · Final Meeting · Memory · Rehearsal · Paranoia

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