Diamanda Galás De-formation: Second Piano Variations
Nick Roseblade | Under the Radar | Posted on Nov 13, 2025 by Intravenal Sound Operations
Real legends work tirelessly at their craft for decades, pushing the boundaries of their creative essence again and again and again.
Intravenal Sound Operations
The word legend is bandied about a bit too much these days—suggested for any musician who lasts a decade and releases three good albums, bestowed on any artist who headlines a festival and plays for over an hour. Real legends don’t just turn up at Glastonbury at 8 p.m. and play some songs to the masses after two albums of 18-month recording/touring schedules. Real legends work tirelessly at their craft for decades, pushing the boundaries of their creative essence again and again and again.
When I think of legends, few names spring to mind, but one that is always near the top is Diamanda Galás. Since the late 1970s Galás has constantly taken us, and herself, to the edge of the abyss. Albums such as 1982’s The Litanies of Satan, her 1984 self-titled debut, 1991’s live Plague Mass, 2003’s Defixiones: Will and Testament, and 2022’s Broken Gargoyles have challenged our preconceptions of not only what an album could be but should be. Great albums should say something. Make us feel differently after listening and run the gamut between genius and madness. Few have done what Galás has and as consistently.
In 2020 Galás released De:formation: Piano Variations. This was a release that, at the time, I enjoyed, but in the intervening years has been the release I return to again and again. It is simply Galás playing the piano live in the studio. No vocals. No apparent overdubs or editing. It’s as powerful as anything she had released to date. At first, it was hard to understand. It was like a Rubik’s Cube found in the back of a childhood drawer. How had it gotten to this point of confusion? The more time spent trying to complete it, the less you understood how the thing was meant to be solved. Eventually, after a year or so, I thought I had a handle on it and moved on to other things, returning from time to time to see if my assumptions were correct. Fast forward five years and Galás has now released a second iteration of solo piano workouts.