Stephen O'Malley

The sustained modulations of the organ, a trio shaping their outcomes. A framework that is renewed for the spouses Malone–O’Malley, though with roles reversed and a new collaboration. In 2023, Kali was the driving force, with her husband’s Ideologic Organ imprint serving as the vehicle to release the sumptuous Does Spring Hide Its Joy; now it is Stephen’s turn, via XKatedral (founded by the American composer together with Maria W. Horn), to sculpt the sound, offering his own take on what the pipe organ can produce.

Recorded at the Église Saint-François in Lausanne, the two pieces were performed by the pair alongside Frederikke Hoffmeier (Puce Mary) and were originally conceived as part of a suite intended for a collaboration with choreographer Cindy Van Acker. In essence, these are two immersive journeys exploring the potential of a dense flow of low reverberations and harmonics, an inexorable expansion unfolding through an extremely slow and almost imperceptible process of change.

The extracted and interwoven drones radiate with a somber solemnity, compelling a deep listening attuned to grasp the role of an essential environmental component through their minimal evolution. Yet it is precisely due to its profound relationship with the space that the recording ultimately feels diminished, lacking the incisiveness granted by the experiential factor—the physical condition of being immersed in a stubborn, hypnotic sound. What remains, then, is a document of an event whose essence is lost in its recorded translation, unable to rely on the penetrating force of Sunn O)))-style drone or the rigorous execution underpinning the variations characteristic of Malone’s choral work.

(This article’s English version was produced with AI-assisted translation)

26/03/2026