On the album, Honsinger is joined by violinists Aleksander Kolkowski and Stephano Lunardi, bassist Ernst Glerum, and drummer Louis Moholo.

[1][2] According to Honsinger, Map of Moods had its origins in a theater music work that resulted in "a constructed chaos that inspired a heightened sense of communication between the participants," in which the musicians "tried to make a cut-up narrative using a cueing system to break up the story line so that we could stop the linearity of the narrative at any point with a cue that would lead it to another point in the story before or after.

These sections are characterized by schematic and thematic identities which "allow the composition to function as a cartographer, with improvisation filling in local color and scenery.

[5] In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "this is a playful and profound piece of compositional genius by Honsinger, and should be sought out by anyone who has an interest in improvisational or modern European classical music.

"[4] The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz stated: "Honsinger's love of string instruments is well evidenced and the sound of the group is lusciously 'classical', even when the attacks are quite extreme.