As Midwife, multi-instrumentalist and producer Madeline Johnston plays “Heaven Metal”, or emotive music about devastation. Johnston began developing her experimental pop project in 2015 while a resident of Denver’s beloved Rhinoceropolis. From there, Midwife released her landmark full-length Forever in April of 2020. The record was a mournful tribute to her close friend who had passed away two years prior; the anthems on this album contained a light that pierced through gray clouds of drone and sorrow, and lended themselves to Midwife’s most affecting work.
When 2020 began, Johnston had several national and international tours planned to promote Forever – including a highly anticipated set at that year’s Roadburn Festival -, but the pandemic rescheduled everything and shifted her focus back to recording and back to her internal landscape. Luminol was written and produced during quarantine and features six new songs which explore dark subject matter in her trademark dark yet crystalline manner. Now, Johnston lives and works in San Miguel, New Mexico and, with a fresh perspective, she holds her Denver roots closely and continues to produce some of the most affecting, nuanced and reverb-soaked music that is equal parts haunting and moving. Luminol is nothing short of a masterpiece – it’s chilling and cereulean, thoughtful and sorrowful. The album’s first single, “Christina’s World”, will premiere as a music video this coming Sunday, April 18th, via Roadburn’s Redux programming. The single will be available shortly thereafter on digital streaming platforms the following week, and the artist will unveil more details about Luminol then. Until then, you can watch the the record’s teaser below.
Luminol will be released on vinyl, cassette, and digital formats on July 16th via The Flenser. Pre-order links will be available shortly.
Photo credit: Alana Wool
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