Burning Song

Kali Malone’s transportive pipe-organ-led compositions bridge medieval music, 20th-century minimalism, and the sombre contemplativeness of ambient metal. Recorded in the 12th-century Leipzig church underneath which J.S. Bach is buried, Burning Song—the first piece of modern music performed on the church’s period-accurate pipe organ since its construction in 2000—expands on the spark of Malone’s 2019 breakthrough The Sacrificial Code, stretching its (often minor) chords long beyond the expectation of resolution, letting the instrument’s natural microtonal wobbliness swell like gentle fog. Check out “Map the Path” or “Crawling Ashore” for starters. The palette is different, but the effect isn’t unlike Philip Glass: an inspired, conceptually simple composer who sticks to her guns and elevates the listener to meditative states through sheer duration without sacrificing the simple pleasure of hearing pretty chord after pretty chord. Excellent music for thinking, walking the strand, or summoning clouds.