A Library on Lightning was conceived as a formal maquette for Filament: both as a test of the soloist material featured in the larger piece and as a harmonic reservoir from which its vocal and orchestral textures were drawn. Leaning on the image of lightning flowers - the branching scars left on the skin of a body struck by lightning - the piece explores the visceral trace of colliding extremes and the growing electric focus of those who bear the brunt of impact..

A Library on Lightning was premiered by Klangforum Wien on April 28th, 2018 at the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik in Witten, Germany. It was subsequently performed by Klangforum in Vienna and by Nate Wooley, Rebekah Heller, and Brandon Lopez at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn.