AMN Reviews: Kali Malone – All Life Long (2024; Bandcamp)

Composer and performer Kali Malone has been on the periphery of my awareness for a couple of years. Famously, her live performances in France were protested by Catholic extremists. All Life Long is her sixth album and the first I’ve thoroughly engaged with. Aside from waiting this long to dive into her discography, I have no regrets.

This offering consists of three types of pieces, Medieval chant involving multi-voice polyphony from the Macadam Ensemble, quintets from Anima Brass, and most prominently pipe organ performed by Malone and Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O))). Despite the variety of instrumentation, Malone maintains a focus throughout the album’s 78 minutes.

For the instrumental pieces, she relies mostly on long-held chords. They move slowly and are drone-like, but are also too dynamic to be strictly minimal. Malone’s writing is self-referential, but the cycles between repetitions can be long. With these recurring structures, she explores the mysterious and majestic from a place of self-aware unknowing.

In line with this approach are the choral pieces. They serve as secular liturgies and drive home Malone’s search for deeper meaning in the writings of philosophers and poets.

Accordingly, All Life Long lands in a unique place. It acknowledges the possibility of an unseen spirituality without being devotional or religious. While the music could be put on for background ambiance, a deeper listening will expose patterns within patterns, reminding us that what we listen to is often subconsciously “unheard” until it is given the appropriate attention.