Released last September on The Flenser, No Depression In Heaven marks Midwife’s fourth studio album and delves into themes of sentimentality, the intersection of dreams, memory, and fantasy, and a recurring motif present throughout Midwife’s catalog: grief. Madeline Johnston examines the tender and transcendent beneath the tough exterior of leather and studs, revealing a different facet of the heavy music landscape, where her project continues to exist and evolve.
“Signs” is a B-side from that album, centering on the attempt to interpret loss and find meaning amid ambiguity. In the face of grief, we search for signs—glimpses of communication from beyond—and take solace in them, regardless of their veracity. What matters is the belief itself.
The music video, created by artist Marah Herreid, was shot and edited on film in Denver and its surrounding areas. The visuals echo the fleeting, uncertain nature of the song’s themes.
Johnston’s skill in weaving familiar and occasionally borrowed phrases into songs that are minimal in form yet expansive in concept remains as powerful as ever. This quality—combined with her deliberate, honey-paced sense of timing—evokes the spirit of slowcore pioneers Low, while the impression that her voice arrives like a distant signal brings to mind Pygmalion-era Slowdive or Grouper.
Midwife is a project that embraces its defining tropes with such conviction that it forms a world unto itself. The result is not insular, but a kind of endlessly generous singularity—one that rewards close and repeated listens.
