Music is where fans oftentimes find common bonds with artists and with each other, sharing life experiences that are echoed through themes and lyrics in songs and albums. Well, everyone should be able to get behind Snail Mail’s new album, because if there’s one thing that everyone has in common, it’s the fact that we’re all going to die.
Ricochet drops tomorrow, and centers around Lindsey Jordan, the singer, songwriter and musician behind the solo project Snail Mail, and her fear of and thoughts about death. Although its central theme is death, the album is highly confident, and more enthusiastic than the artist’s previous works.
The album is Snail Mail’s third, after 2018’s Lush, and 2021’s Valentine, which the team at Staged Haze considered one of the best albums of 2021. The singer’s debut album came out when she was still a teenager, and her work since then has followed the ups and downs of young adulthood. Ricochet feels like the musician’s most grounded work yet.
At many points, the album doesn’t drift too far from what Snail Mail fans are sonically used to, it’s still filled with jangly guitars and big choruses. Shoegaze-inspired fuzz are present throughout the album, but it also sounds way bigger than the musician’s previous work.
That’s not to say that Snail Mail doesn’t take a few big swings, especially on songs like “My Maker,” a ’90s-sounding single that’s filled with breezy acoustic guitar strumming, and centers around the idea of mortality and what happens after we die.
“Another year gone by, what if nothing matters? Waiting around to die, to see what happens after,” Jordan sings in the song’s chorus.
The song, which is about the heavens, and whether or not she’ll ever enter them, brought Jordan about as close to them as the musician could get: filming the music video for the single in a hot air balloon.
Although Jordan’s sound is expansive on the album, there are still songs like “Hell,” an alt-rock ripper that’s heavy on guitars and themes of living with oneself and the choices that we make, and “Nowhere,” a brooding shoegaze track about “going nowhere.”
The album’s highest note is when it starts off with my personal favorite song, “Tractor Beam,” its first track. The song is packed with a confidence and wisdom that might only be able to emerge after absolutely proving herself as an artist on Snail Mail’s two first releases.
“And a sour taste is all I’ll bе, in a bitter part of your memory. You can cast my lettеrs to the sea, but you can’t find anyone else like me,” Jordan sings in the song’s bridge.
Throughout “Tractor Beam”, Jordan is impressively able to bring the music up to sweeping highs in the song’s chorus, with a full band and a string accompaniment, and cohesively make the song so intimate sounding during its bridge, with just her voice and a guitar. It’s a grand and confident statement: Snail Mail isn’t afraid to experiment while still making a balanced and beautiful album.
Another peak is “Butterfly,” a nostalgic metaphor that centers around the transformation of a butterfly and has a blistering, guitar-heavy break and a super moody outro that any alt-rock fan can easily get into.
In support of the album, Snail Mail can be seen touring the United States and Canada throughout April and May, including a stop at Salt Lake City’s Kilby Block Party. Jordan is continuing on to Europe afterward, playing at Amsterdam’s Paradiso on June 18, and ending the European leg of her tour on June 28 at Outbreak Festival in Manchester.
Ricochet can be found on all streaming platforms on March 27.
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