Midwife, the musical project of Madeline Johnston, is releasing a new album called Luminol next month. We’ve already heard the album’s spectral closing track “Christina’s World”, and this week she has shared its opener “God is a Cop”.
Over the course of her two previous albums, Midwife has shown her expertise in crafting hazy layers of dense sound through minimal instrumentation, which often take on a meditative and introspective tone. That remains true on “God is a Cop”, but this time her acute and unwanted feelings are poking through, making themselves known even as she tries to suppress them. “I can’t kill the evil thought / I can’t turn it off” she laments over shapeless blots of synth. As “God is a Cop” continues, she asks “Am I the villain, am I the cop?” and tries to bury these unwanted impulses under a layer of electrifying guitar, which smoulders and glows in tandem with her heated inner-monologue. Simple in execution, but complex in its evocation of the human condition, “God is a Cop” is another stand-out from Midwife.
Midwife’s new album Luminol is out on July 16 via The Flenser (pre-order). You can find her on Facebook and Instagram.
