Self-described as “Heaven Metal” since the project’s inception, sole-composer under the nom-de-plume of Midwife Madeline Johnston has always defied strict classification. Since 2017, the sparse, ambiance-rich music made by Johnston has woven in and out of the typical confines of rock music, taking a hypnotic, repetitive, meditative approach to songcraft that channels the emotional catharsis of heavy music while remaining airy and ethereal. This concept of the ethereal nature of life is most fully explored on her latest album No Depression in Heaven, both musically and lyrically.

Midwife’s music sits comfortably in liminal spaces, between ideas, between genres, between moods. The seven songs presented here were written in the back of tour vans and refined in isolation at Johnston’s home studio over the course of two years. No Depression is a return to a more sparse sound akin to debut album Like Author, Like Daughter; where previous albums saw the project flirting with more maximalist instrumentation, here there are only guitars, keyboards, minimal electronic percussion, and Johnston’s soft, reverb-soaked voice. Using nods to post-rock, slowcore, ambient, and folk alongside this minimalist song structure, Midwife deliver a less-is-more approach that is its own wholly unique sound. As easily as she blends genres together, No Depression lyrically weaves themes of music, memory, and sentimentality together, whether eulogizing both a lost relationship and an anthropomorphic version of her beloved, now-deceased touring van on “Vanessa” or blurring the line between who is the listener and who is the speaker reaching out for help on “Better Off Alone.”

As Johnston herself says, “Our bodies are vessels –– our bodies are, together, a vessel, a vehicle, and that togetherness allows us to become something larger than ourselves in the slipstream of the unconscious, droving.” The great paradox of loneliness is that by expressing that feeling, you find people who are also sharing that emotional low, and suddenly you are not as lonely as you were. No Depression in Heaven creates a space through sparse music and wistful lyrics that allows the listener to sit in comfortable discomfort and process the grief that comes from just being alive. It is an astounding album filled with emotion even through its most still moments, and one that is bound to be among my favorite releases of this year.

— Vincent

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No Depression in Heaven is available now on The Flenser. For more information on Midwife, visit their official website.