The Way Water Breathes pulls from musical influences in progressive music, post-rock, and ambient genres. Through its fusion with the classical guitar, the piece presents a new way to approach the instrument by incorporating extended techniques typically found in these musical worlds. The chosen scordatura, often used by the guitarist Yvette Young, transposes the instrument to an open sonority that allows previously impossible gestures to become much more accessible. Alongside techniques like "hammer-on's from nowhere", popularized by Tosin Abasi, the piece replicates the unpredictable temperance of large bodies of water.
