Kali Malone’s new album pairs Leipzig’s Bach organ with cello and guitar
Kali Malone’s *Burning Song* marks a more compact and emotionally direct turn for the US drone composer, whose reputation rests on much longer pieces. Recorded with Lucy Railton on cello and Stephen O’Malley on bowed acoustic guitar, the album uses the Bach organ at Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, where Bach worked for the final 27 years of his life. The shift matters because Malone sets aside her usual contrapuntal methods while retaining the sombre, patient character of her music.
Across 40 minutes, the trio’s closely blended sounds combine sustained tones, crackle, breath and scraping textures. “Grieving Figure” moves from a distant, horn-like note towards a bright finish; “Bells on a Branch” shifts from a buzzing texture to a dry ending, while Railton’s cello adds tension to “Crawling Ashore”. The review singles out “Map the Path” as unusually direct and solemn, while stressing that the album avoids a grand, sentimental emotional gesture.
In short
- Malone takes a shorter, more emotionally direct approach to drone.
- The 40-minute album features organ, cello and bowed guitar.
- “Map the Path” is described as strikingly direct.
Explained simply
Kali Malone is a US composer known for drone music: pieces built from sustained sounds that change slowly over time. Her earlier work often uses contrapuntal methods, in which separate musical lines move alongside one another.
The Thomaskirche is a church in Leipzig where Johann Sebastian Bach worked for the last 27 years of his life, and its organ is central to this album. Malone recorded with cellist Lucy Railton and guitarist Stephen O’Malley, whose bowed guitar adds long, rough-edged tones.
The album brings these instruments together in a shorter, more direct form than much of Malone’s previous work. Its restrained sound draws on grief and solemnity, linking a change in her approach to a historic musical setting.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Kali Malone: Burning Song review – drone composer wields Bach’s organ to breathtaking effect”.