Premiere: Kali Horse Confronts Isolation On Stark Video for “In Blue”
Photo courtesy of Kali Horse
Toronto avant-pop project Kali Horse have spent more than a decade shaping a creative world that feels instinctive, intimate, and a little bit untouchable. Led by longtime collaborators Des and Sam Maloney, the queer multi-instrumentalist duo blur the edges between art-rock atmosphere and electronic vulnerability, crafting songs that feel like late-night thoughts you can’t quite shake. Their latest video for “In Blue,” lifted from last year’s EP 2099, captures that feeling in its purest form.
Filmed by the pair themselves on a windswept Toronto rooftop, the visual unfolds in two lingering long takes, tracing the fragile romance of loneliness against an open sky. Stripped of heavy effects, Kali Horse lean into captivating one-shot visuals — letting movement, neon lighting, and subtle emotional shifts carry the story. Get to know Kali Horse and read our interview down below.
REVERIE: How did the creative partnership in Kali Horse first begin, and how has it transformed over time?
Des: We met in college in a way that can only be described as kismet. I lied about smoking weed to seem cool, Sam was scared to go grocery shopping alone , and we’ve been inseparable ever since. We would write in her room with a feverishness. Sam was so untapped, untameable. I felt really over-educated on the boring stuff, and her lack of theory was so refreshing. Rules didn’t exist so we didn’t talk about them. It was pure expression. As we grew as musicians and friends, we are constantly trying to tap back into that. We know more now, but the feelings and mutual respect are the most important aspects to what we do. Boundaries have been developed so that we stay friends amidst the endless to-do lists. The telepathy is real. She helped me get over my fear of tech. I’m forever grateful.
Sam: I come from a small town, fields, cows etc. so it was everything to me to go to get into IMP and live in Toronto the *CITY* and I remember there was an introduction class or meeting a few months before the class started and I noticed Des right away cause I think she came in smiling and laughing and wearing a flowery colorful jacket, I instantly was like (WHO IS THIS) but was too shy to go up and say hey and just hoped that we both would make it to the final acceptance for the class….long story short we both did and the first day of class I asked her to come do groceries with me then I think she stayed over so many times that week her Dad brought over food haha we wrote a song the first day we met. I went into things thinking I would be more comfortable behind the scenes in music production but Des encouraged me to play and perform. I secretly wanted to perform and was in awe of Des’ voice/skill and creativity cause I felt like I didn’t know much since I was self taught but she never made me feel that way, she encouraged me so much genuinely that I tried. Her confidence in me is the reason I am where I am and have grown and is still what gets me on stage. That was 13 years ago and we’ve never stopped trying new things that bring us life musically, we’ve never stayed in one place and will stay weird forever and I’m just so grateful for Kali Horse, hard to put into words but *insert crying*.
REVERIE: Your 2099 EP felt futuristic and fresh — what world were you building on that EP, and does the “In Blue” video revisit some of those themes?
Des: While making our debut long play ‘Some Type of Electric Lagoon’, we were completely enveloped by fantasy. Living with depression and anxiety, you want to find a world you can escape into. ‘2099’ was about breaking that fantasy. Admitting we are part of this world, and figuring out how to embody that in a way that felt like the us we were becoming. Liminal spaces, a complete aloneness, dust and breath. Echoes of years of being in the music industry, of living in a major city, of watching friends pass, of crumbling into existentialism, of making mistakes and the journey to self-forgiveness (on-going). But also finding a grit and relentlessness. You know, the light and fluffy stuff (lol). We’re always really inspired by cinema, so it feels very visual to me, and it feels like my life.
Sam: We tend to build the world in real time, as it happens we start dreaming, everything that’s been in both of us start to materialize outside of ourselves and as Des and I talk about what we’ve been feeling the synchronicity and the wings start flowing. We knew our electronic beats, samples and foley would play a bigger role in this piece and we naturally were making shorter songs, resulting in more like video game levels, each track staying focused and separate from another but with our shifts and turns included. A phrase we kept pulling back to was “a butterfly effect with razor wings” although we didn’t use those as lyrics and the phrase came after the songs had been written it became a massive inspiration to finish feeling the world and what it wanted. The thought of how something can go so many ways, so many parallel universes are possible and will shape things and this is the one you chose. Thinking back on choices can cut sometimes and flutter like it was yesterday, but now you’re alone in a liminal space left to sit with memories and that has become comforting because it’s been so long in that desolation. That’s 2099 to me. The In Blue music video reflects that, a lot of choices, a lot of lives being lived around us and still we are alone up on a roof speaking our poems into the cold wind. The wind sliced us as we filmed and it was very fitting to this song and feeling.
REVERIE: The colour blue carries so many emotional associations — what does it symbolize for you in the context of this song?
Des + Sam: Blue is the ultimate romanticization of loneliness. The giving in to desperation. A cold, bleak reality.
REVERIE: The music video is built around two long rooftop shots in Toronto. Why did you choose this approach?
Des: We’re known to have been very extra in the past. A lot of shots, a lot of set decor, a lot of effects. We are not afraid to be seen in “In Blue”. The tension of not breaking contact with a quick cut. It also mirrors the structure of the song. A distinct A featuring my vocals, B with us both, and C with Sam’s vocals.
Sam: We knew we wanted a lot of sky, we wanted to get as high up as we could to find that liminal space in the city, we wanted face and no quick cuts like we usually do, we wanted it to build and lure in, no smoke and mirrors our actual long play emotions. For such a quick song we wanted to bend reality and warp time, which we feel the song does as well.
REVERIE: You filmed the video yourselves. What does maintaining that level of independence allow you to express more honestly?
Des: No one understands me on film the way Sam does, and vice versa. She knows how I want to be seen, she knows how she sees me, and she knows how I see myself. You can’t really buy that level of understanding. There’s also obviously financial constraints but working with limitations forces you to be creative.
Sam: Everything Des said + we are so specific and have so many ideas that we develop during the making of so to be able to have that full control is everything to us. So after over a decade of figuring out how to do it ourselves on cracked versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic we are in a great place to create more freely and a lot faster haha, so many frustrating times w tech but so worth it, wouldn’t have it any other way.
REVERIE: Are there any artists - local or beyond - that you’re most inspired by?
Des: We have an amazing local scene. Bands and artists are constantly influencing us. We both work at music venues so we see a lot of what comes through. Hot Garbage are constantly one-upping their past work, and we’re so close so we’re always tapped into their process. Pat Lefler (ROY) creates with such pure intention, such joyfulness. I take that into the studio with me always. Our co-producer and drummer Brandon Bak is our closest creative collaborator, and our music tastes align despite how vast they are. I’ll never forget seeing Mr. Joy for the first time at The Baby G. So much tech, such good blend. Mother Tongues’ production, and the visuals just so clearly belong with the music. World News rehearses at my house and the way they play with time and space is so part of my brain. Bill Cutbill’s mastery of his vocal effects is incredible to me. Luna Li does all our strings, what a lush and talented artist. Graham Walsh and Holy Fuck, and SUUNS do incredible things, period. Obviously I owe a lot to Björk but that really was only in the past few years that I got into her work. Before that it was dude bands I’m not in the mood to name. Yves Tumor is the dream tour right now.
Sam: Absolutely everyone Des said + a few additional inspirations to add, Liam Cosby aka Lee Rust, Feelscape, OOZ, Bonnie Trash, Sunnsetter, Sook-Yin Lee, Shrewd, Slash Need, Blue Light, Via Mardot, David Lynch, Julee Cruise, Caroline Polachek, FKA Twigs, Elliot Smith, Mk.gee and a north star for me has always been Patsy Cline.
REVERIE: For someone discovering Kali Horse for the first time through “In Blue,” what do you hope they take away — and what does this release signal about what’s next?
Des: I hope they recognize that romanticizing your life is a good thing, and can help you cope with <<the horrors>>. Also, being alone isn’t a bad thing. Don’t hide from yourself, and don’t be afraid to be known. We all pretended to be in music videos in the back seat of a car on a rainy day as kids. Don’t forget to bring that energy to your adult life. As far as fortune-telling goes, this is only the beginning. We have a lot to say, and we consider our work an ever-evolving conversation. Climb that roof with your best friend. Talk about the hard stuff. You don’t need to be one thing.
Sam: I hope you take away to do whatever you want, we’re all messy humans with a range of emotions going from, fkn feeling yourself, to anger, to hollowness and sadness and it can all happen in under 3 minutes and that’s okay. Also if you’re a musician, do whatever you want with your songs and try to create beyond where your skills are at, I didn’t know sh*t, I know more now but still hope I never fully know anything, that’s the key I think. Just keep trying, you can do it.
