On the Nature of Thingness (Starkland Records ST-223)

Compositions by Nathan Davis and by Phyllis Chen, performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble

Nathan Davis – Ghostlight, performed by Jacob Greenberg
Phyllis Chen – Hush, performed by Cory Smythe and Phyllis Chen
Phyllis Chen – Chimers
Nathan Davis – On speaking a hundred names, performed by Rebekah Heller
Phyllis Chen – Beneath a Trace of Vapor, performed by Eric Lamb
Phyllis Chen & Robert Dietz – Mobius
Nathan Davis – On the Nature of Thingness, performed by Tony Arnold and International Contemporary Ensemble

Winner of Independent Music Award for Best Contemporary Classical Album, nominated by the Jury of International Classical Music Awards for Best Contemporary Music Album, and on the ballot for the Grammys.

When released in Spring 2016, it was WQXR's Album of the Week - "Davis, Phyllis Chen, and their ICE colleagues manage to be as satisfying to the intellect as they are exciting to the ear."

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Chicago Tribune // On The Nature of Thingness

“The choicest setting has the singer declaiming Dadaesque nonsense accompanied by a chorus of twanging jaw harps, to wonderfully whimsical effect. Also arresting is the third section, in which lines from a Rimbaud poem are sung on one pitchover softly pattering guitar and metallic percussion.”
- John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

New York Times // On the Nature of Thingness

“Tony Arnold offered dramatic, multihued interpretations of the four texts that anchored the work”
-Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times

Beth BeauchampAugust 11, 2021