Released last September on The Flenser, Midwife’s fourth studio album No Depression In Heaven explores themes of sentimentality, the interplay between dreams, memory, and fantasy, and a familiar subject seen throughout all of Midwife’s work: grief. Madeline Johnston takes a look at the tender and transcendent underneath the hard exterior of leather and studs, exposing a different side of the heavy music scene, where Johnston’s project has been living and evolving.
“Signs” is a B-side from that album, and the song is about making sense of loss, making meaning where things might be left in uncertainty. In grief, we look for signs that point to some kind of communication from beyond, and find comfort there, regardless of if it may be true or not, the important thing is our belief.
The accompanying music video was created by the artist Marah Herreid. Shot and edited on film in Denver and surrounding areas, the piece speaks to the fleeting nature of the song’s meaning.
Johnston’s ability to braid familiar and occasionally borrowed phrases into hypnotically minimalist but conceptually maximalist songs is as strong as it has ever been. This in particular, along with her penchant for pacing like dripping honey, nods to slowcore giants Low, while the sense that Johnston’s voice is arriving as a distant broadcast certainly calls to mind Slowdive’s Pygmalion or Grouper.
Midwife is a project which so fearlessly commits to the tropes that characterize it that it has become a system unto itself. The effect is not solipsism, but a kind of endlessly generous idiosyncrasy that rewards repeated, close listens and dedicated fandom.
Midwife, live:
May 30 Toronto, ON — Prepare the Ground Festival
Jul. 31 Denver, CO — Hi-Dive
Sep. 14 Colorado Springs, CO — What’s Left Fest
