The piece itself, scored for violin and piano, is a tautly constructed, three section work played in one continuous movement. The first section is atmospheric, the main theme, a yearning tune based on a falling semitone, comes after a brief introduction and leads into the second section, a devilish dance, with some scintillating interplay between the violin and piano. At its climax the dance suddenly stops and we look into the abyss. The falling semitone motive reappears as an ostinato along with fragments from earlier in the piece before hope is restored in this, the third and final section. Whilst not exactly programmatic, the title is intended to convey the essence of the piece and is partly inspired by American author, Paul Auster’s similarly, but not identically, titled 1987 novel, 'In the Country of Last Things'. The book is set in a thinly disguised post-apocalyptic New York City and is the story of Anna Blume, and her survival under appalling conditions while searching for her long-lost brother.

In the Country of Lost Things..... is also about searching, though in this case it’s more about nostalgia; looking for those things, both artifacts and sentiments, which might have disappeared into the mists of time.