Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and experimental music bands, most notably Sunn O))).

Biography

O'Malley is a founding member of several bands including Sunn O))) (1998–present), Thorr's Hammer (1994–1995), Burning Witch (1995–1998), KTL (2005–2021), and Khanate (2000–2006). Within these projects and alone, he has collaborated with a variety of musical artists, including Greg Anderson, Scott Walker, Merzbow, Eyvind Kang, Alan Moore, Iancu Dumitrescu, Ana-Maria Avram, Alvin Lucier, F.M. Einheit, Randall Dunn, James Plotkin, Julian Cope, Joe Preston, Attila Csihar, Stuart Dempster, Mika Vainio, Peter Rehberg, Lee Dorian, Thurston Moore, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nurse With Wound, Boris, Michio Kurihara, Jim O'Rourke, Keiji Haino, Daniel O'Sullivan & Kristoffer Rygg (in the free improvisation act Æthenor together with Vincent de Roguin and Steve Noble), Aaron Turner, David Tibet, Oren Ambarchi, Alexander Tucker, Z'EV, and more recently with Senyawa, Félicia Atkinson, Kali Malone, and François J. Bonnet. O'Malley also produced work together with the Franco-Austrian choreographer and director Gisèle Vienne on the pieces Kindertotenlieder (2007), Jerk (2008), Eternelle Idole (2009), This Is How You Will Disappear (2010), Last Spring: A Prequel (2011), The Pyre (2013) and L'Etang (2021). He has also worked with American sculptor Banks Violette (various projects between 2005–2009), the Italian performance artist Nico Vascellari (2007–2011), Swiss art collective KLAT (2009), and the Belgian film maker Alexis Destoop (Kairos with Oren Ambarchi, 2010). O'Malley has designed record covers since the early 1990s for groups such as Earth, Burzum, Emperor, Mayhem, Gehenna, Boris, Dissection, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Cathedral. He has also worked as a rock/metal music journalist & published a black metal fanzine called Descent in the 1990s. He was involved with creation of both the Southern Lord label and the experimental/neofolk/black metal label The Ajna Offensive. In 2011, he began curating and art directing the Ideologic Organ record label, in association with the Viennese Editions Mego.

Personal life

Although he is originally from Seattle, Washington, he lives in Paris, France. O'Malley is married to American composer and organist Kali Malone, which they announced jointly on Instagram in July 2023.

Discography

With Sunn O)))

With Khanate

With Burning Witch

With Ginnungagap

With Lotus Eaters

With KTL

Solo works

With Grave Temple

With Æthenor

With Nazoranai

Various