Kali Malone (born 1994) is an American composer and organist based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Her works implement unique tuning systems in

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

form for

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

and

digital synthesis A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds, in contrast to older analog synthesizers, which produce music using analog electronics, and Sampler (musical instrument), samplers, ...

often combined with acoustic instrumentation.

Early life

Malone was raised in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. She moved to

Western Massachusetts Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as "western Mass," is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and univ ...

to study music, but relocated to

in 2012 after befriending the Swedish avant-garde composer

Ellen Arkbro Ellen Arkbro (born 1990) is a Swedish composer, sound artist and musician working with precision-tuned harmony in frameworks such as just intonation and meantone temperament.Anon., ''Resident Advisor''Ellen Arkbro Having primarily composed for and ...

. She studied electroacoustic composition at the

Royal College of Music, Stockholm The Royal College of Music, Stockholm () is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was made independent of the Academy in 1971, and ...

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 A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' and ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', and was awarded "2019 Album of the Year" by Boomkat. In 2022, she released ''Living Torch'', a 33-minute piece presented in two movements. It was commissioned by the

Groupe de Recherches Musicales A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches ...

(GRM) for its loudspeaker orchestra, the

Acousmonium The Acousmonium is the sound diffusion system designed in 1974 by Francois Bayle and used originally by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales at the Maison de Radio France. It consists of 80 loudspeakers of differing size and shape, and was design ...

. Jettisoning Malone's signature pipe organ, it features a mélange of acoustic and electronic instruments including the trombone and bass clarinet. It was composed by Malone in 11-odd limit

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...

. 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 The ARP 2500 is a monophonic (synthesizers), monophonic (or duophonic) analog modular synthesizer. It was the first product of ARP Instruments, Inc., built from 1970 to 1981. Although only about 100 units were made, Sound on Sound called it "und ...

synthesizer owned by

Éliane Radigue Éliane Radigue (born January 24, 1932) is a French composer. She began working in the 1950s and her first compositions were presented in the late 1960s. Until 2000 her work was almost exclusively created with the ARP 2500 modular synthesizer and ...

. Malone composed and produced the album at the GRM in Paris between 2020 and 2021. 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 Peter Rehberg (29 June 1968 – 22 July 2021), also known as Pita, was a British-Austrian composer of electronic audio works. He was the head of Editions Mego, which he founded in 2006 as a successor to Mego. Early life Rehberg was born in To ...

of Editions MEGO. The album premiered at the GRM in October 2021, three months after Rehberg's death, and was released by Portraits GRM on July 7, 2022. In 2023, she released ''Does Spring Hide Its Joy'', a collaboration with

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The band is known for its distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, ...

guitarist

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and expe ...

and British cellist

Lucy Railton Lucy Railton is a British musician, primarily known for playing cello. Railton studied cello at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she graduated in 2008. In the field of improvisational m ...

. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

lockdown. Malone plays tuned sine wave oscillators on the album, joined by O'Malley's electric guitar and Railton's cello. The album consists of an hour-long composition presented in three versions, each a minor variation on the titular piece. It was released through O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label on January 20, 2023. On May 14, 2023, deeming Malone's music "profanatory", activists from the French integralist movement

Civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

forced the cancellation of one of her and O'Malley's concerts at the Saint-Cornély church in

Carnac Carnac (; , ) is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France. Its inhabitants are called ''Carnacois'' in French. Carnac is renowned for the Carnac stones – on ...

, Brittany, after they blocked the entrance of the church.

Personal life

Malone is married to

guitarist

, which they announced on Instagram in July 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

EPs

Other

With Morbida

With Taxi Taxi

With Hästköttskandalen

With Swap Babies

With Sorrowing Christ

With Golden Offence Orchestra

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Kali 1994 births Living people 21st-century American classical composers American composers American expatriates in Sweden American organists American women classical composers American women in electronic music American women organists Composers for pipe organ Electroacoustic music composers Minimalist composers Musicians from Denver Musicians from Stockholm Royal College of Music, Stockholm, alumni