Kali Malone has debuted on iDEAL Recordings with her new album, The Sacrificial Code. 

The Sacrificial Code sees the Stockholm artist and organ tuner developing the experimental techniques she used on last year’s Organ Dirges 2016—2017, but adopting a more surgical approach. It features almost two hours of concentrated, creeping organ pieces governed by a strict compositional code.

Malone recorded the album by placing microphones around the organ in such a way as to eliminate environmental identifiers as far as possible, essentially removing the large hall reverb inextricably linked to the instrument. The pieces were then further compositionally stripped of spontaneous expressive impulse, an approach that flows against the grain of the prevailing musical hegemony. It echoes Steve Reich’s sentiment: “..by voluntarily giving up the freedom to do whatever momentarily comes to mind, we are, as a result, free of all that momentarily comes to mind.” 

“With its slow, purified, and seemingly austere qualities, The Sacrificial Code guides us through an almost trance-inducing process where we become vulnerable receptors for every slight movement, where every miniature shift in sound becomes magnified through stillness,” the Gothenburg label explains. “….It has a perception-altering quality that encourages self-exploration free of signposts and without a preordained endpoint—the antithesis to the language of colourless musical platitudes we’ve become so accustomed to.” 

Malone’s friend and collaborator Ellen Arkbro contributes additional organ pieces to the record, and Rashad Becker features on mastering duties.

The Sacrificial Code LP is out now, with clips below. 

Tracklisting

01. Spectacle of Ritual 

02. Sacrificial Code 

03. Rose Wreath Crown (For CW) 

04. Sacer Profanare 

05. Litanic Cloth Wrung 

06. Fifth Worship II 

07. Hagakyrka Bells 

08. Prelude (Live In Hagakyrka) 

09. Sacrificial Code (Live In Hagakyrka) 

10. Glory Canon III (Live In Hagakyrka)