Snail Mail (Lindsey Jordan) releases “Madonna,” a taste of her forthcoming new album Valentine which is out November 5 via Matador. Lindsey says, “I am excited to share this one! In summation it’s about why love can’t exist between a person and a concept of a person. Remove the pedestal and you might realize there was never anything there at all.”

“Madonna,” follows the previously released “Ben Franklin,” and the album’s title track, “Valentine.”

A hugely anticipated follow-up, Valentine was written and produced by 22-year-old Lindsey Jordan and co-produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee). Written in 2019-2020 the album is filled with romance, heartbreak, blood, sweat and tears. But Valentine is poised and self-possessed, channelling its anger and dejection into empowering revenge fantasies and rewriting the narrative of its own fate. Stitched throughout it is the melodrama and the camp Jordan so deftly utilizes to offset her pain. The sonic leap forward can be heard from the first moments of the title track – the whispered voice and eerie sci-fi synths erupting into a full-on stadium-sized adrenaline-rush of a chorus. From there it’s all go – with digitized electronic inflected anthems, swooning baroque FM rockers, smoldering slow-jam R&B and some of the most gorgeous and heart-rending finger-picked guitar ballads this side of Elliott Smith. The star of the show however is Lindsey’s voice – no longer the prodigal wunderkind, her vocals and words are rawer, deeper, snarlier and more feeling than ever before. 

Photo Courtesy: Tina Tyrell