When she emerged, she finally felt ready to assemble Lush's ambitious follow-up, Valentine. Citing the stress of having thrown herself into her music career while she was so young (the earliest Snail Mail material dates back to when she was just 15), the now 22-year-old spent a month and a half in a rehab facility late last year, where she had no phone and no proper recording equipment. Understandably, Jordan found that being named the Next Big Thing before she could even legally order a beer was a heavy cross to bear. Where on earth was she supposed to go from there? While her friends were settling into their freshman years of college, Jordan was accruing accolades from numerous publications, a coveted signing to Matador Records and the title of " the future of indie rock." She toured the world and brushed elbows with her heroes. With that record - 2018's Lush - the slacker-rock wunderkind had accomplished more in her first year out of high school than many musicians fathom accomplishing in a lifetime. It's an impressive formula for a debut, and one that succeeds whether listeners are tuning in more for the soundscape or more for the sentiment.When an 18-year-old Lindsey Jordan released her debut album as Snail Mail, she was deemed "wise beyond her years" ad nauseum. That's due to not only her lyrics and impulsive style of melodic phrasing, but to the hazy quality of her guitar tones, and the wistful, subtly rich chord progressions that come across like complicated moods. Even the lusher, more driving tracks like "Pristine" and "Full Control" still feel intimate, though. That opens up space for spare keyboards and anxious rumination. One of a couple exceptions to that is the aforementioned "Let's Find an Out," which has especially light drums and percussion, in contrast to the crashing cymbals of certain other moments on the record. She's joined on most of the album by drums and bass, giving further texture and volume to her own forthright presence.
At the end of "Golden Dream," for instance, she rants "Stupid, stupid me" for a cathartic 30 seconds. When it does enter, her vulnerable vocal delivery, combined with vexed lyrics that are both confessional and observational in nature, often sounds like a private, handwritten letter that, once out of her system, she'll immediately crumple up and leave burning in an ashtray. Balancing dreamy, complex chords and seductive melodies on the instrument, songs like "Speaking Terms" and "Let's Find an Out" have the subtle effect of seeming to sing with accompaniment before her voice makes an entrance.
While the guitar work is a focal point of her style in general, it regularly borders on mesmerizing on her full-length debut, 2018's Lush. A near-life-long guitarist, she was taking lessons from Mary Timony ( Helium, Ex Hex) around the time she released her first Snail Mail EP as a 16-year-old in 2016. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Lindsey Jordan was already a known entity in the Baltimore and D.C.