Glass Hands from Hourglass Rhyme by Ciphera

Fragile tremors pulse beneath an urgent beat where memory and time collapse in on themselves. "Glass Hands" emerged during a real crisis at the Recital Forge – we'd watched a Scholar Crew dissolve into panic when their entire presentation faded from memory mid-battle. Something about their expressions – that desperate scramble to hold onto what was already slipping away – hit us hard.

The xylophone that opens the track? Actually recorded in an abandoned elementary school music room, dusty keys speaking like forgotten thoughts. We layered Tag's actual chalk-scratching sounds beneath Lore's vocals to create that tension between permanence and dissolution. You can literally hear our fingertips sweating against the mic during the chorus – we kept that raw anxiety in the final mix.

Those whispered "remember this" mantras weren't planned. During recording, we invited students who'd struggled with testing anxiety to contribute their actual pre-exam rituals. What they shared became the heartbeat of the track – desperate, genuine pleas to their own memories.

The shattering glass breakdown represents that moment when you realize you've lost something important – a thought, a date, a formula – and the sudden panic that follows. Tag actually created a live visual during this section where memory patterns fractured across the Cipherboard, triggering gasps from everyone in the studio.

When we performed this live, we invited audience members to write precious memories on translucent tiles, then balanced them precariously throughout the song – some inevitably fell and broke, making each performance a unique meditation on impermanence.

This isn't just about school facts. It's about everything fragile we try to hold – relationships, childhood moments, cultural knowledge passed down generations. Listen for the tension in the strings that never fully resolve until the final note, mirroring how we cling to what matters most, knowing it might still slip through our fingers like sand in an hourglass.

Tracklist

5.	Glass Hands	3:35

Lyrics

Arena calls—near-break, breath like glass
Memory trembling, seconds slipping past
Threads pull thin—Ciphera aligns the strand
Hold what the crowd forgets—bare in their hand

Lore’s grip — answers flicker, brace the fall
Tableaux shiver—records crack, recall small
Palms sweat quartz, thoughts fracture on command
Scholar Crews jaw tight—fragile hope they withstand
Crowds bite doubt, donning clockwork demands
History’s splinters—each pressed to glass hands

Tick plucked from Cipherboard, nerves unmask
Ink beads balance—swing between future and past
Tag sketches rescue on translucent command
Old mnemonics spiral, still out of grasp
Crew maps reminders—truth runs through quicksand
Echoed recall wobbles—gripped by glass hands

Hold on—don’t let the shards scatter (hold on)
Grip the glint before it’s gone (hold on)
We catch what aches in shattered bands
Every second spun in glass hands
Hold on—hold on—remember this!

Lore mouths lessons—fingers tremble, fate pressed
Crowd’s chant fumbles—half-phrases confessed
Slate skids, glass slips—no Scholar withstands
Every syncopate gasp—etched or suppressed
Knowledge bends, refracts, refrains—endless test
Arena’s hush cradles—what the glass hands have guessed

Fractures bloom—Tag sketches memory mid-break
Colors cut silence—lines ripple, remake
Answers whirl, splinters drift, no one plans
Still, a glimmer: shared in trembling glass hands

Hold on—don’t let the shards scatter (hold on)
Grip the glint before it’s gone (hold on)
We catch what aches in shattered bands
Every second spun in glass hands
Hold on—hold on—remember this!

Hold what shivers, save what withstands
Arena awakes—etched in glass hands

Credits

from Hourglass Rhyme, released July 10, 2025

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