{{Short description|American composer and organist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Kali Malone | alias = Medicine Bow | birth_date = 1994 | birth_place = Colorado, U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kalimalone.com/about-us/|title=About|website=kalimalone.com|date=September 15, 2021|access-date=June 6, 2023|archive-date=June 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606181831/https://kalimalone.com/about-us/|url-status=unfit}}</ref> | origin = Denver, Colorado, U.S. | genre = {{Flatlist| * Drone<ref name="ra" /> * minimalism<ref name="guardian" /> * electroacoustic<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/kali-malone-does-spring-hide-its-joy/|title=Kali Malone: Does Spring Hide Its Joy Album Review|last=Williger|first=Jonathan|date=January 25, 2023|website=Pitchfork|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> }} | occupation = {{Flatlist| * Composer * musician }} | instrument = {{Flatlist| * Pipe organ * synthesizer }} | years_active = 2014–present | label = {{Flatlist| * XKatedral * Bleak Environment * Hallow Ground * iDEAL Recordings * Portraits GRM * Ideologic Organ }} | spouse = {{marriage|Stephen O'Malley|July 29, 2023}} | website = {{URL|kalimalone.com}} }} '''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.<ref name="tinymixtapes">{{cite news|author=Cookcook|date=October 4, 2018|title=Kali Malone|url=https://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/kali-malone|work=Tiny Mix Tapes|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.factmag.com/2019/06/28/kali-malone-the-sacrificial-code/|title=Kali Malone crafts two hours of minimalist organ drone on ''The Sacrificial Code''|last=Bruce-Jones|first=Henry|date=June 28, 2019|work=Fact|access-date=November 16, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12101:kali-malone-qsacrificial-codeq&catid=13:albums-and-singles&Itemid=133|url-status=dead|title=Brainwashed - Kali Malone, "The Sacrificial Code"|date=August 18, 2019|last=D'Amico|first=Anthony|website=Brainwashed|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923150651/http://www.brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12101:kali-malone-qsacrificial-codeq&catid=13:albums-and-singles&Itemid=133|archive-date=September 23, 2019}}</ref>
==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.<ref name="tinymixtapes" /><ref name="guardian">{{cite news|last=Allan|first=Jennifer Lucy|date=January 18, 2023|title='I want an indescribable feeling': composer Kali Malone on her search for the sublime|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/18/i-want-an-indescribable-feeling-composer-kali-malone-on-her-search-for-the-sublime|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref>
==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''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-experimental-albums-2019/|title=The Best Experimental Albums of 2019|website=Pitchfork|date=December 16, 2019}}</ref> and ''The Wire'',<ref>{{cite magazine|date=January 2020|title=Releases of the Year|magazine=The Wire|issue=431}}</ref> and was awarded "2019 Album of the Year" by Boomkat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boomkat.com/products/the-sacrificial-code|title=Kali Malone - The Sacrificial Code|website=Boomkat}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/kali-malone-living-torch/|title=Kali Malone: Living Torch Album Review|last=Currin|first=Grayson Haver|date=July 12, 2022|website=Pitchfork|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> Jettisoning Malone's signature pipe organ, it features a mélange of acoustic and electronic instruments including the trombone and bass clarinet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/now-playing/2022/07/08/1110468638/kali-malone-living-torch-ii|title=Kali Malone, 'Living Torch II'|last=Gotrich|first=Lars|date=July 8, 2022|website=NPR|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Malone composed and produced the album at the GRM in Paris between 2020 and 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thevinylfactory.com/news/kali-malone-new-album-living-torch/|title=Kali Malone explores electroacoustics on new LP, ''Living Torch''|last=Rugoff|first=Lazlo|date=July 8, 2022|website=The Vinyl Factory|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/ouvrage.php?id=9812&menu=0|title=Kali Malone : Living Torch (CD)|date=July 7, 2022|website=Les presses du réel|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> The album premiered at the GRM in October 2021, three months after Rehberg's death,<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/32360-kali-malone-album-details-does-spring-hide-its-joy|title=Kali Malone Details New Album, 'Does Spring Hide Its Joy'|last=Eede|first=Christian|date=November 16, 2022|website=The Quietus|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> The album consists of an hour-long composition presented in three versions, each a minor variation on the titular piece.<ref name="ra">{{cite web|url=https://ra.co/reviews/35276|title=Kali Malone - Does Spring Hide Its Joy feat. Stephen O'Malley & Lucy Railton|last=McTernan|first=Conor|date=January 27, 2023|website=Resident Advisor|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/32505-kali-malone-does-spring-hide-its-joy-review|title=Kali Malone – Does Spring Hide Its Joy|last=Poscic|first=Antonio|date=January 17, 2023|website=The Quietus|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/reviews/albums/kali-malone-does-spring-hide-its-joy|title=Kali Malone – Does Spring Hide Its Joy|last=Creely|first=Joe|date=January 17, 2023|website=The Skinny|access-date=February 10, 2023}}</ref> It was released through O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label on January 20, 2023.<ref name=":1"/>
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.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 14, 2023|title=À Carnac, des militants Civitas empêchent le concert de Kali Malone|trans-title=In Carnac, Civitas activists prevented the concert of Kali Malone|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/culture/article/a-carnac-des-militants-civitas-empechent-le-concert-de-kali-malone_217829.html|work=Le HuffPost|language=fr|access-date=May 14, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sherburne |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Sherburne |date=May 17, 2023 |title=When Right-Wing Extremists Crashed the French Drone Festival |url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/when-right-wing-extremists-crashed-the-french-drone-festival/ |access-date=June 6, 2023 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Malone is married to Sunn O))) guitarist Stephen O'Malley, which they announced on Instagram in July 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CvppocexsOw/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==|title=JUST MARRIED!!! July 29, 2023|last1=Malone|first1=Kali|last2=O'Malley|first2=Stephen|website=Instagram|date=August 7, 2023|accessdate=August 24, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Daniel |date=November 2023 |title=Kali Malone Crosses the Abyss with Her Latest Avant-Drone Release, 'All Life Long' |url=https://wjct.org/jme/2023/11/kali-malone/ |access-date=January 7, 2023 |website=WJCT |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Helfand |first=Raphael |date=December 20, 2023 |title=Drone music isn't just one note |url=https://www.thefader.com/2023/12/20/kali-malone-william-basinski-pioneer-works-concert-review |access-date=January 7, 2023 |website=The Fader |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Discography== ===Studio albums=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Velocity of Sleep'' | * Released: August 25, 2017 * Label: XKatedral, Bleak Environment |- ! scope="row"| ''Cast of Mind'' | * Released: May 8, 2018 * Label: Hallow Ground |- ! scope="row"| ''The Sacrificial Code'' | * Released: June 27, 2019 * Label: iDEAL Recordings |- ! scope="row"| ''Living Torch'' | * Released: July 7, 2022 * Label: Portraits GRM |- ! scope="row"| ''Does Spring Hide Its Joy''<br />{{small|(with Stephen O'Malley and Lucy Railton)}} | * Released: January 20, 2023 * Label: Ideologic Organ |- ! scope="row"| ''All Life Long'' | * Released: February 9, 2024 * Label: Ideologic Organ |- ! scope="row"| ''Magnetism''<br />{{small|(with Drew McDowall)}} | * Released: November 9, 2025 * Label: Ideologic Organ |- ! scope="row"| ''Music for Intersecting Planes''<br />{{small|(with Leila Bordreuil)}} | * Released: March 27, 2026 * Label: Ideologic Organ |}
===Compilation albums=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''XKatedral Volume III''<br />{{small|(with Caterina Barbieri & Ellen Arkbro)}} | * Released: October 6, 2017 * Label: XKatedral |- ! scope="row"| ''Studies for Organ (Rehearsal Demo Tape)'' | * Released: May 1, 2020 * Label: Self-released |}
===EPs=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Tragic Chorus'' | * Released: March 12, 2016 * Label: XKatedral, Bleak Environment |- ! scope="row"| ''Black Gate'' | * Released: December 21, 2016 * Label: Total Black |- ! scope="row"| ''Organ Dirges 2016–2017'' | * Released: March 15, 2018 * Label: Ascetic House |- ! scope="row"| ''The Torrid Eye''<br />{{small|(with Acronym)}} | * Released: January 14, 2019 * Label: Stilla Ton |}
===Other=== ====With Morbida==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Morbida / Medicine Bow'' | * Released: November 2014 * Label: Oma333 |}
====With Taxi Taxi==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Floating Forever'' | * Released: December 3, 2014 * Label: Delicious Demon Records |}
====With Hästköttskandalen==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Spacegirls'' | * Released: February 16, 2015 * Label: Fylkingen Records |}
====With Swap Babies==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Bloody from Digging'' | * Released: June 4, 2015 * Label: XKatedral, Delicious Demon Records |}
====With Sorrowing Christ==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Sorrowing Christ'' | * Released: August 31, 2016 * Label: Ascetic House |}
====With Golden Offence Orchestra==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Details |- ! scope="row"| ''Ode to Pauline Oliveros'' | * Released: August 23, 2017 * Label: XKatedral |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite news|last=Allan|first=Jennifer Lucy|date=January 18, 2023|title='I want an indescribable feeling': composer Kali Malone on her search for the sublime|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/18/i-want-an-indescribable-feeling-composer-kali-malone-on-her-search-for-the-sublime|newspaper=The Guardian}}
==External links== * {{Official website}} * {{Discogs artist|4153687}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Kali}} Category:1994 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American classical composers Category:Composers from Colorado Category:American expatriates in Sweden Category:American organists Category:American women classical composers Category:American women in electronic music Category:American women organists Category:Composers for pipe organ Category:Electroacoustic music composers Category:Minimalist composers Category:Musicians from Denver Category:Musicians from Stockholm Category:Royal College of Music, Stockholm, alumni