Minutes behind the dashboard really add up, you know. After two hours of standstill traffic, the road really opens up into the rest of your life. Pavement boils under the afternoon sun. Trees cry out in tortured pleas for water. A brief breeze rustles the dead pine needles, as a squirrel makes off with the last berry from the bush. The middle manager stares at the cubicle wall, as the ticking clock behind her fills the dead air. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The car in front of you lurches forward, bringing you ten feet closer to the end.
In its incredibly detailed explorations of the far limits of tone, Does Spring Hide Its Joy paints sweeping landscapes populated by the most minute possible figures. Just as impressionistic paintings hide complexity within their every brushstroke, the latest from Kali Malone buries its attention into the fluttering harmonic interactions between droning instruments. Though the resulting world stagnates like an Alabama summer afternoon, Malone pans from object to object within this landscape, presenting a crystal clear image of each and every element.
Though the music does not at first glance appear particularly dark, the pairing of this album with any day-to-day activity will turn your everyday routine experience into an invaluable, and often hostile, moment of introspection. Musical cues gently push the mind along a deliberate, meandering path between dissonant pinch points. All experience takes on the brilliant hues of Malone’s writing, gently changing like the progressing tints of a sunset. Take a moment out of your hectic life to sit down with Does Spring Hide Its Joy, meditating upon the tones that you invite into your spaces in every moment.