Snail Mail — the alter ego of Lindsey Jordan — has shared details of her latest album, a collection of eleven new tracks called Ricochet, which is due out March 27 on Matador Records. And across this record, she focuses on time as a transitional environment, alongside moments of deep introspection laced with anxiety and a deep dive into themes of mortality. It’s a heavy listen, but one that is buoyed by her innate sense of rhythmic clarity and fixation on melody as means of osmotic emotional transference.
Recorded with producer and bassist Aron Kobayashi Ritch (Momma) at Fidelitorium Recordings in North Carolina, as well as Nightfly and Studio G in Brooklyn, Ricochet finds her channeling the spirits of bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Sunny Day Real Estate, bridging genres and musical lineages as effortlessly as changing stations on a radio. The songs were written during a period of personal upheaval, which included a move to North Carolina from New York City, and allowed Jordan to engage with ideas that she had sidestepped on previous release — namely death and an understanding of comes after our bodies fail us.
On lead single, “Dead End,” she turns her gaze toward the suburban sprawl and the cycles of daily routine and a gauzy awareness that often informs adolescence. The guitar riffs here are as indebted to grunge heavyweights as they are to the swirling sugary melodies of someone like Matthew Sweet. It’s a blurring of density and lightness, a musical chameleon in its natural habitat. And when we reach the compelling singalong section, all that’s left are voices raised together in memory of simpler times and weekend spent doing nothing with friends — which in hindsight was actually everything.
The accompanying video was directed by Jordan and Elsie Richtor. “We shot the video for ‘Dead End’ in random places all around rural North Carolina between the hours of 5pm and 4am on one of the coldest nights of my life,” says Jordan. “The goal was to be inconspicuous with the fireworks, but someone called the cops on us.”
Watch the clip below and check out her upcoming tour dates.
Tour Dates:
April 10 — Milwaukee, WI — Turner Hall
April 11 — Chicago, IL — The Riviera Theatre
April 12 — Detroit, MI — Majestic Theatre
April 15 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Paramount
April 16 — Philadelphia, PA — The Fillmore
April 17 — Boston, MA — Big Night Live
April 18 — Baltimore, MD — Union Collective Parking Lot
April 20 — Saxapahaw, NC — Haw River Ballroom
April 21 — Asheville, NC — The Orange Peel
April 22 — Atlanta, GA — Variety Playhouse
April 24 — Houston, TX — White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs)
April 25 — Dallas, TX — Granada Theater
April 26 — Austin, TX — Stubb’s
April 28 — Oklahoma City, OK — The Tower Theatre
April 30 — Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren
May 1 — Los Angeles, CA — The Wiltern
May 2 — San Diego, CA — Observatory North Park
May 4 — San Francisco, CA — The Warfield
May 5 — Sacramento, CA — Ace of Spades
May 7 — Portland, OR — Crystal Ballroom
May 8 — Seattle, WA — Moore Theatre
June 25 — London, UK — Electric Ballroom
Ricochet:
1. Tractor Beam
2. My Maker
3. Light On Our Feet
4. Cruise
5. Agony Freak
6. Dead End
7. Butterfly
8. Nowhere
9. Hell
10. Ricochet
11. Reverie
Ricochet is due out March 27 on Matador Records. You can pre-order the album here. Follow Snail Mail on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
