News
31 October 2026 – Kali Malone Releases Burning Song and Transforms a Historic Leipzig Church Into an Experimental Musical Instrument
By Editorial Team - October 31, 2026
Summary
American composer Kali Malone releases Burning Song on Ideologic Organ, recorded on the historic Bach Organ inside Leipzig's St Thomas Church.
Key Facts
- Composer Kali Malone releases new album 'Burning Song' on Ideologic Organ.
- Recorded on the historic Bach Organ inside St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany.
- Features cello by Lucy Railton, bowed guitar by Stephen O'Malley, and engineering by Francesco Donadello.
- Entities: Kali Malone, Burning Song, Ideologic Organ, St Thomas Church Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach, Francesco Donadello, Lucy Railton, Stephen O'Malley
- Tags: kali-malone, burning-song, ideologic-organ, organ, ambient, drone, modern-classical, experimental
American-born, Stockholm-based experimental composer Kali Malone has released Burning Song through Stephen O'Malley's Ideologic Organ imprint. The seven-composition opus marks her first new solo recording since 2024's widely acclaimed All Life Long and was recorded entirely inside Leipzig's historic St. Thomas Church—the very sanctuary where Johann Sebastian Bach served as Thomaskantor for nearly three decades.
Malone performed on the church's famed Bach Organ, an instrument engineered with specialised historical baroque temperaments. Rather than treating the sacred space as mere architectural decor, Malone transformed the entire stone nave into an acoustic resonator. Recording engineer Francesco Donadello positioned more than twenty custom microphones throughout the vaulted arches and pipe chambers across two intensive overnight recording sessions.
The album also features long-time collaborator Lucy Railton on cello and Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley playing bowed acoustic guitar, weaving resonant acoustic harmonics beneath the sustained pipe organ clusters. The tracklist includes "Heavy with Fruit", "Grieving Figure", "Map the Path", "Bells on a Branch", "Crawling Ashore", "Sounding a Void", and "My Eve My Dawn". Malone's slow-shifting harmonic progressions challenge traditional perceptions of time, creating a hypnotic spiritual trance.
Burning Song proves how modern recording techniques can amplify historical acoustics to craft forward-thinking contemporary art. In Malone's hands, a 300-year-old pipe organ becomes one of the most radical electronic-acoustic synthesizers on earth. Explore more drone and modern classical masterworks in our ambient section and stay informed with our daily news coverage.