kali malone: cast of mind

Kali Malone's sophomore LP Cast of Mind investigates the use of harmony as a force of psychological impact through the exclusive use of the Buchla 200 synthesizer in combination with acoustic woodwind and brass instruments. The record begins as a cascade of battle calls from the wind instruments that shift between triumphant and anguished howls. While the other pieces pull from the septimal harmonic framework of the title track, they extract a more confined palette to depict their sonic identities indicated by the song titles. "Bondage To Formula" weaves synthesis, trombone, and bass clarinet in a delicate pattern, conjuring an ambiguous assimilation of the acoustic and synthetic. Dominated by columns of sawtooth waveforms, "Arched In Hysteria" unravels as a sharp and sober harmony perched on the border of violence, ringing in paranoia amongst a foundation of low beating oscillators. The record concludes in the rapture of "Empty The Belief", swollen with undulating bassoon striving to intonate to the towering stability of machine-generated harmony. 180 gram vinyl.