Toronto, Ontario (Issuewire.com) - Wilderness Records is proud to announce EMOtional, the sprawling two-album project from husband-and-wife duo Midnight In Saskatchewan, comprising John Greene and Jocelyn Stewart. The project will roll out over the coming months, beginning with the release of lead single "Ode to the Ocean" on August 31, ahead of the full double-album release on September 30.
Following the release of their 2022 debut Melodies, Greene and Stewart found themselves creatively stuck, wary of the pressure surrounding the follow-up to a first record and unwilling to simply repeat what they had already made. Rather than chase a new direction, the duo chose to look backward — toward the melodic, emotionally driven strain of Emo that first drew them together as musicians and, eventually, as a couple.
What followed was an unconventional two-year writing process split into two immersive phases. For the first, Greene and Stewart retreated to an isolated cabin in New Brunswick for nearly two months, surrounding themselves exclusively with the Emo records of the '90s and 2000s that shaped their musical identities. Rather than write finished songs, the pair composed instrumental pieces only, using the process to recalibrate their songwriting instincts around the sound. Those sessions were later recorded in Vancouver with producer Rebecca Hamelin, resulting in the instrumental companion album, Sea of Life: An Instrumental Journey (EMOtional Prelude).
For the second phase, the duo relocated to a second cabin in Montana for five weeks, this time writing independently of one another — a deliberate choice to bring a more personal, individual voice to each song. Drawing on the instrumental foundation of Sea of Life, these sessions became the songs that would form EMOtional itself, later recorded in Toronto with British producer Kris Rose.
Both albums were completed in early 2025. Two years and two albums in the making, EMOtional confronts difficult and often deeply personal terrain — depression, social alienation, the fear of rejection, the pull to escape suffocating circumstances, and the weight of abuse — alongside a recurring reverence for the natural world, particularly the sea and the ocean. Together, the two records form a complete emotional arc: one instrumental and exploratory, the other lyrical and direct, both rooted in the Emo sound that has guided Greene and Stewart's musical partnership for years.
Though both records lean fully into Emo's melodic, post-rock-inflected side, Greene and Stewart didn't abandon the sound that built their name — traces of the alternative rock, power pop, and dream pop that have long defined Midnight In Saskatchewan surface throughout Sea of Life: An Instrumental Journey and EMOtional alike.
The project's rollout continues beyond the album release: on December 29, Wilderness Records will release EMOtional: Outtakes, an EP collecting songs left off the final tracklist during the writing and recording process.
Release Schedule
- August 31 — Single: "Ode to the Ocean"
- September 30 — Double album: Sea of Life: An Instrumental Journey (EMOtional Prelude) / EMOtional
- December 29 — EP: EMOtional: Outtakes
About Midnight In Saskatchewan
Midnight In Saskatchewan is the recording project of husband-and-wife duo John Greene and Jocelyn Stewart. Following their 2022 debut Melodies, the pair spent two years immersed in the sounds of classic Emo to create EMOtional, a two-album project exploring loss, isolation, and the natural world. Their most recent release prior to this project was the single "Customs of Cruelty" (February 15, 2026), a protest song directed at the United States' Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
About Wilderness Records
Wilderness Records is an independent Canadian label home to Midnight In Saskatchewan, Between Two Winters, Jocelyn Stewart, and Sparks from the Sky.
Media Contact
Wilderness Records ourwildernessrecords@gmail.com
