Kali Malone

Kali Malone (born 1994) is an American composer and organist based in Stockholm. Her works implement unique tuning systems in minimalist form for analog and digital synthesis often combined with acoustic instrumentation.^[5][6][7]

Kali Malone
Also known as	Medicine Bow
Born	1994 Colorado, U.S.[1]
Origin	Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Genres	Drone[2] minimalism[3] electroacoustic[4]
Occupations	Composer musician
Instruments	Pipe organ synthesizer
Years active	2014–present
Labels	XKatedral Bleak Environment Hallow Ground iDEAL Recordings Portraits GRM Ideologic Organ
Spouse	Stephen O'Malley ​ (m. 2023)​
Website	kalimalone.com

Early life

Malone was raised in Denver, Colorado. She moved to Western Massachusetts to study music, but relocated to Stockholm in 2012 after befriending the Swedish avant-garde composer Ellen Arkbro. She studied electroacoustic composition at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm.^[5][3]

Career

In 2016 she co-founded the record label and concert series XKatedral, together with Maria W Horn, in Stockholm.

In 2019, she released The Sacrificial Code, featuring nearly two hours of pipe organ compositions, through iDEAL Recordings. The album appeared on year-end lists by Pitchfork^[8] and The Wire,^[9] and was awarded "2019 Album of the Year" by Boomkat.^[10]

In 2022, she released Living Torch, a 33-minute piece presented in two movements. It was commissioned by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) for its loudspeaker orchestra, the Acousmonium.^[11] Jettisoning Malone's signature pipe organ, it features a mélange of acoustic and electronic instruments including the trombone and bass clarinet.^[12] It was composed by Malone in 11-odd limit just intonation. The trombone and bass clarinet were recorded in meticulous individual parts to match each computer-generated sound wave. It was assembled by Malone with heavily textured drones as well as the boîte à bourdon and sounds generated by the ARP 2500 synthesizer owned by Éliane Radigue.^[11] Malone composed and produced the album at the GRM in Paris between 2020 and 2021.^[13] It is the first collaboration between the GRM and its new label partner Shelter Press, continuing the Portraits GRM record series founded by Peter Rehberg of Editions MEGO.^[14] The album premiered at the GRM in October 2021, three months after Rehberg's death,^[11] and was released by Portraits GRM on July 7, 2022.

In 2023, she released Does Spring Hide Its Joy, a collaboration with Sunn O))) guitarist Stephen O'Malley and British cellist Lucy Railton. It was composed and recorded between March and May 2020 in the empty concert halls of Berlin Funkhaus and MONOM during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Malone plays tuned sine wave oscillators on the album, joined by O'Malley's electric guitar and Railton's cello.^[15] The album consists of an hour-long composition presented in three versions, each a minor variation on the titular piece.^[2][16][17] It was released through O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label on January 20, 2023.^[15]

On May 14, 2023, deeming Malone's music "profanatory", activists from the French integralist movement Civitas forced the cancellation of one of her and O'Malley's concerts at the Saint-Cornély church in Carnac, Brittany, after they blocked the entrance of the church.^[18][19]

Personal life

Malone is married to Sunn O))) guitarist Stephen O'Malley, which they announced on Instagram in July 2023.^[20][21][22]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details
Velocity of Sleep	Released: August 25, 2017 Label: XKatedral, Bleak Environment
Cast of Mind	Released: May 8, 2018 Label: Hallow Ground
The Sacrificial Code	Released: June 27, 2019 Label: iDEAL Recordings
Living Torch	Released: July 7, 2022 Label: Portraits GRM
Does Spring Hide Its Joy (with Stephen O'Malley and Lucy Railton)	Released: January 20, 2023 Label: Ideologic Organ
All Life Long	Released: February 9, 2024 Label: Ideologic Organ

Compilation albums

Title	Details
XKatedral Volume III (with Caterina Barbieri & Ellen Arkbro)	Released: October 6, 2017 Label: XKatedral
Studies for Organ (Rehearsal Demo Tape)	Released: May 1, 2020 Label: Self-released

EPs

Title	Details
Tragic Chorus	Released: March 12, 2016 Label: XKatedral, Bleak Environment
Black Gate	Released: December 21, 2016 Label: Total Black
Organ Dirges 2016–2017	Released: March 15, 2018 Label: Ascetic House
The Torrid Eye (with Acronym)	Released: January 14, 2019 Label: Stilla Ton

Other

With Morbida

Title	Details
Morbida / Medicine Bow	Released: November 2014 Label: Oma333

With Taxi Taxi

Title	Details
Floating Forever	Released: December 3, 2014 Label: Delicious Demon Records

With Hästköttskandalen

Title	Details
Spacegirls	Released: February 16, 2015 Label: Fylkingen Records

With Swap Babies

Title	Details
Bloody from Digging	Released: June 4, 2015 Label: XKatedral, Delicious Demon Records

With Sorrowing Christ

Title	Details
Sorrowing Christ	Released: August 31, 2016 Label: Ascetic House

With Golden Offence Orchestra

Title	Details
Ode to Pauline Oliveros	Released: August 23, 2017 Label: XKatedral

References

1. "About". kalimalone.com. September 15, 2021. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. McTernan, Conor (January 27, 2023). "Kali Malone - Does Spring Hide Its Joy feat. Stephen O'Malley & Lucy Railton". Resident Advisor. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
3. Allan, Jennifer Lucy (January 18, 2023). "'I want an indescribable feeling': composer Kali Malone on her search for the sublime". The Guardian. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
4. Williger, Jonathan (January 25, 2023). "Kali Malone: Does Spring Hide Its Joy Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
5. Cookcook (October 4, 2018). "Kali Malone". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
6. "Kali Malone crafts two hours of minimalist drone on The Sacrificial Code". June 28, 2019.
7. D'Amico, Anthony (August 18, 2019). "Brainwashed - Kali Malone, "The Sacrificial Code"". Brainwashed. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019.
8. "The Best Experimental Albums of 2019". Pitchfork. December 16, 2019.
9. "Releases of the Year". The Wire. No. 431. January 2020.
10. "Kali Malone - The Sacrificial Code". Boomkat.
11. Currin, Grayson Haver (July 12, 2022). "Kali Malone: Living Torch Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
12. Gotrich, Lars (July 8, 2022). "Kali Malone, 'Living Torch II'". NPR. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
13. Rugoff, Lazlo (July 8, 2022). "Kali Malone explores electroacoustics on new LP, Living Torch". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
14. "Kali Malone : Living Torch (CD)". Les presses du réel. July 7, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
15. Eede, Christian (November 16, 2022). "Kali Malone Details New Album, 'Does Spring Hide Its Joy'". The Quietus. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
16. Poscic, Antonio (January 17, 2023). "Kali Malone – Does Spring Hide Its Joy". The Quietus. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
17. Creely, Joe (January 17, 2023). "Kali Malone – Does Spring Hide Its Joy". The Skinny. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
18. "À Carnac, des militants Civitas empêchent le concert de Kali Malone" [In Carnac, Civitas activists prevented the concert of Kali Malone]. Le HuffPost (in French). May 14, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
19. Sherburne, Philip (May 17, 2023). "When Right-Wing Extremists Crashed the French Drone Festival". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
20. Malone, Kali; O'Malley, Stephen (August 7, 2023). "JUST MARRIED!!! July 29, 2023". Instagram. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
21. Brown, Daniel (November 2023). "Kali Malone Crosses the Abyss with Her Latest Avant-Drone Release, 'All Life Long'". WJCT. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
22. Helfand, Raphael (December 20, 2023). "Drone music isn't just one note". The Fader. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Allan, Jennifer Lucy (January 18, 2023). "'I want an indescribable feeling': composer Kali Malone on her search for the sublime". The Guardian.