A Misty Awakening – Kali Malone’s Living Torch

Kali Malone—a Denver-born, Stockholm-based sound artist, model, and experimentalist—transitions from her organ-centric work to a new artistic era with her LP release Living Torch (2022). 

Malone’s previous work focused on tonal experimentation with organ work seen in The Sacrificial Code (2019) which features a collection of calm, melancholic drone that elicits a cold introspection for the listener. Her electronic work is relatively small, yet groundbreaking, as evidenced in her collaboration with Acronym in The Torrid Eye (2019), where the ambient techno of “A Sunspot” creates a warm, low-end focused beat interlaced with a high-pitched synth. Living Torch is an iteration of her previous tonal exercises, where she now dabbles into the electroacoustic realm of electronics and abrasion. The result is a sequence of dark radiance that elicits a haunted trance of spiritual ecstasy.

“Living Torch I” begins with minimalist waves of drone that softly flow into each other. As the tone is set by the drone, a dreary trombone played by Mats Äleklint and vaporous bass clarinet played by Isak Hedtjärn are masterfully mixed with Malone’s sound, marking uncharted territory in her traditional organ drone work. An undulating dance of instruments flourishes into a foggy, harmonious atmosphere. She crafts this living entity with a progressing selection of textures that ebb and flow. Halfway through, a modular synth grasps the center stage giving further depth to the textural flows. The previously selected palettes of tones were initially asleep but awoken as the synth subdues their graininess. A covert climax is created amongst this misty harmony that is utterly divine. The entity withers away as the track concludes, like a lit torch being smothered. 

As the calm atmosphere is set with the first track, “Living Torch II” interjects the previous flow with experimentation in somber chord progressions and abrasion. The track goes straight for the jugular with all the instruments ready to ballet en pointe. A foreboding guitar permeates the front of the mix – the torch is lit again, but now the entity has transformed into a dark behemoth of cacophonous noise. The calm sounds are forgotten in favor of a haunting atmosphere. The drone is a riptide that harnesses the kindled emotions and morphs them into a sonic dystopia, representing the moments before slumber, before disaster, before death: perfect darkness. The behemoth has its last shrieks before its flatlining death into nothingness. A stuporous rolling bass fills the hole that the behemoth took, segueing into the end of the track. The Living Torch is blown out.

Photo by Kinfolk: Music, Issue 36

Album art for these meditative ambient experiences usually has a monotone art that reflects the crafted atmosphere. Yellow Swans’ Going Places (2010) and Grouper’s A I A: Alien Observer (2011) epitomize monochromatic, grainy works including album art that is indicative of the sound. However, Malone opts to incorporate herself with a minimalist border, indicative of how personally integral this work is to her music career. Living Torch presents an awakened Malone who can wield multiple instruments and tones masterfully. She could’ve shoehorned a black-and-white image of a torch with some noise filters added, but she opts for her awakened self. This is Kali. The themes presented on the cover are very similar to the cassette and CD covers of Henry Flynt’s You Are My Everlovin / Celestial Power (1986), which present Flynt working with the instruments to create a groundbreaking piece of work in folk, which was a mostly dormant genre at the time. Similar to Flynt, Malone genuinely innovates a personal sound – the future is hers.

Her next release Does Spring Hide Its Joy (2023) features Stephen O’Malley, Sun O))) band member, and Lucy Railton, another brilliant experimental artist. The promotional single for this work is just stunning and innovative once again. Kali Malone leads the new generation of the monotone, cementing her as one of the most exciting artists of recent times. 

Written by Alton Sturgis

Photo by Kinfolk