Kali Malone has always approached deep-listening and minimalism from different angles. In many ways, her compositions feel more indebted to metal than any high-brow art society. This, further underlined by the appearance of her life partner, Stephen O’Malley, who alongside celloist, Lucy Railton, once again completes the trio for Malone’s latest full-length release, Burning Song.
Like Railton, on bowed acoustic guitar, O’Malley plays a key role on Burning Song. Over the years that influence has worked the other way, too, of course. Malone’s examinations of the renaissance and baroque periods, informing O’Malley’s work in Sunn O)))’s mediation period of Life Metal and Pyroclasts, which many would rightfully view as their best.
Although vastly different methods in approach, that mediation residue leaks into Burning Song. Recorded last August at Leipzig’s Thomaskirche where J.S. Bach was cantor for the last 27 years of his life, Burning Song is something to moves freely in open space. Malone, the first to perform contemporary works on the church’s Bach Organ; its bespoke tuning, adding new dimensions to her repertoire.
It’s these new environments in which Malone records that give each of her albums a completely different feeling and meaning. And as far as Burning Song is concerned, it’s her most open and accessible so far.
Kali Malone - Burning SongWhile some may see Burning Song as one entire long-form piece, it’s anything but. Recorded over two nights, engineer Francesco Donadello placed microphones throughout the room to enhance the sound of each instrument, and it’s this method that not only gives these recordings a seamless ebb and flow. It also brings the trio into sharper focus, illuminating their subtleties and the inner grains of sound. Each induvial voice, shining through.
Starting with the immersive minimalism of Grieving Figure. Malone’s unique tones from behind the Bach Organ, landing differently every time you listen. Elsewhere, Map the Path and Crawling Ashore find Malone on the edge of a crescendo. It’s a place where deep-listening seldom inhabits, and on Heavy with Fruit, Malone actually reaches this point. Railton’s droning cello and O’Malley’s subtle strings, adding dark shades in what is Malone’s most brooding piece ever recorded.
Not before some lighter moments. Bells On A Branch places you in a milieu of peace and isolation, feeding into the mediative nature that is the vital through-line on Burning Song. Even the heavy chords that unfurl on Sound A Void. While assuredly hymnal, it’s a piece indebted to metal, as Malone’s past influences are pulled through to the present.
Finishing with My Eve My Dawn, it’s a moment that galvanises Burning Song. Drawing from the preceding six compositions, it underlines the expanse of these recordings, to the point where Malone takes deep-listening and minimalism to fresh new places. Places where catharsis is the ultimate focal point.
Burning Song is out now via Ideologic Organ. Purchase from Bandcamp.
