“For "Behind the Wallpaper," Temple preferred a sympathetic vocalist with a subtle delivery, which is why she wanted Holter's unadorned mezzo-soprano rather than a dramatic opera-trained singer. The score seems sparse, but there are unusual twists to its underlying harmonic language. Different meanings can also be read into the imaginative story, which connects to Temple's own transgender experience.
"Being a trans person and going through reconfiguring aspects of my social presentation, appearance and (the) way I conceive of myself has made me very aware of the artifice involved in how people represent themselves visually and bodily," Temple said. "A lot of queer art is too heavy-handed or self-aggrandizing. I wanted to deal with it more obliquely."
Armbrust added that as a nonconformist classical musician, he can identify with some of that perspective.
"What Alex is trying to get at is (that) going through something so transformational may put you outside of society," Armbrust said. "But you don't end up just by yourself."“