# Snail Mail (musician)

Lindsey Erin Jordan (born June 16, 1999) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, who is a part of the indie rock solo project Snail Mail. Originally from Ellicott City, Maryland, Jordan first performed as Snail Mail live in 2015 at the age of 15, and attracted attention with the extended play (EP) Habit in 2016. After signing with Matador Records, Snail Mail released her debut studio album, Lush (2018), to critical acclaim. In 2021, Snail Mail followed up with her second studio album, Valentine.

## Early life and education

Lindsey Erin Jordan was raised in Ellicott City, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Her mother is a lingerie store owner and her father works for a textbook publisher. Jordan had a Roman Catholic upbringing. She started playing guitar at the age of 5. She recalls playing "awful restaurant shows" with her guitar instructor during her early musical education. She later played guitar for her church's band and for her school's jazz band. Jordan also played hockey during her youth.
As a teenager, Jordan became captivated by punk rock, originating from seeing Paramore live on the Riot! tour at age 8. She cited the experience as a "big moment" that inspired her to eventually form her own band. She started writing her own songs in the seventh grade and began booking her own sets at restaurants and coffee shops. In 2018, Jordan was admitted to St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn, but chose not to attend in order to focus on her career.

## Career

Jordan released her self-recorded solo extended play (EP) Stick in 2015 with her new band as Snail Mail. She was joined by Ryan Vieira playing bass and Shawn Durham on the drums. In October 2015, Snail Mail performed her first live show at Baltimore's Unregistered Nurse festival alongside Sheer Mag, Screaming Females and Priests. The set attracted the attention of Priests, who subsequently recruited Jordan to their label Sister Polygon Records. After completing one short DIY tour in July 2016, Snail Mail released her first full EP Habit via Sister Polygon, produced by Priests' G.L. Jaguar and Coup Sauvage and the Snips's Jason Sauvage. The six-track EP received considerable coverage from the indie press. Pitchfork included the EP's opening track, "Thinning", in their "Best New Track" series.
Snail Mail, supported by bassist Alex Bass and drummer Ray Brown, toured North America extensively in 2017 supporting Priests, Girlpool, Waxahatchee and Beach Fossils. In September 2017, Jordan signed a recording contract with Matador Records and performed her first Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music. Snail Mail's first headlining tour began in January 2018. Snail Mail's debut studio album Lush was released on June 8, 2018, to generally positive reviews from music critics. In 2019, she toured New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the US, playing with artists such as Mac DeMarco and Thundercat. In June 2019, Snail Mail released a new version of their song "Pristine" in Simlish for the new EA game The Sims 4: Island Living. That same month Matador Records digitally reissued Habit, featuring a cover version of "The 2nd Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by the band Courtney Love, headed by American musician Lois Maffeo.
Snail Mail released her second studio album, Valentine, on November 5, 2021. The album received widespread critical acclaim and appeared on multiple 2021 year-end lists. Regarding Valentine, Jordan stated: "Making this album has been the greatest challenge of my life thus far. I put my entire heart and soul into every last detail."
Her original set of US and UK tour dates were also set to begin in November 2021, but Jordan called off the tour shortly before it began due to her finding massive polyps in her vocal cords that needed to be operated on to prevent permanent damage to her voice.
In November 2022, Jordan announced through Variety that she would bring a hometown festival to Baltimore in early 2023 called "Snail Mail's Valentine Fest." The five-night run of shows will take place at the city's The Ottobar venue, with a lineup of special guests that Jordan curated herself, and she told Variety that there are "some fucking insane bands on there."
Snail Mail was part of the lineup for the 22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2023.
In September 2023, Snail Mail announced a new EP Valentine (Demos), a collection of four previously-unreleased demo tracks that were recorded in the process of making the Valentine album. The announcement was accompanied by the release of Easy Thing, one of the four tracks from the EP. The full EP was released on November 3, 2023.
Jordan ventured into acting in 2024, appearing in a small role in the psychological horror drama film I Saw the TV Glow as Tara, one of the protagonists of TV show The Pink Opaque. She also contributed a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins song "Tonight, Tonight" to the movie’s soundtrack.

## Musical style and influences

Snail Mail's music has been described as indie rock, alternative rock and emo. While earlier Snail Mail releases were noted for their sparse, lo-fi guitar-driven sounds, Valentine embraced a richer sonic palette, incorporating synthesizers, strings and samples. Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times noted Jordan's unconventional sense of melody and a preference for "murky" effects pedals, both exhibiting influences of 1990s indie rock. Her lyricism has been noted for its candid and introspective nature. Regarding her songwriting process, Jordan stated, "I have a really hard time writing from any place other than complete honesty within myself."
Jordan has cited Hayley Williams of Paramore, Liz Phair and Avril Lavigne as her idols and major musical inspirations. Her other influences include Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Elliott Smith, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, My Bloody Valentine and Sheer Mag. Jordan has named Mary Timony her favorite guitarist, and received guitar lessons from Timony herself. Other guitarists who had inspired her include Marnie Stern, Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn and Mark Kozelek.

## Personal life

Jordan is openly lesbian. In an interview with The New Zealand Herald, she stated that while coming out as lesbian "really developed who I am as a person," she "hated having to answer questions about being a woman and being lesbian and being young. All of it, to me, has nothing to do with the music." From 2018 to 2020, Jordan was in a relationship with actress and singer Amandla Stenberg. Since 2022, Jordan has been in a relationship with Etta Friedman.
She resides in New York City as of September 2021.

## Band members

Current members
* Lindsey Jordan – vocals, guitar
* Alex Bass – bass
* Ray Brown – drums
Past members
* Blaise O'Brien – keyboards, percussion, guitar (2022–2023)
* Benjamin Kaunitz – guitar, backing vocals (2021–2023)
* Madeline McCormack - keyboards, guitar (2019–2022)
* Daniel Butko – guitar (2018)
* Ian Eylanbekov – guitar (2018)
* Kelton Young – guitar, backing vocals (2018)

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | US | US Alt | US Indie | US Rock | AUS | NZ Heat | SCO | UK | UK Indie |
| Lush | Released: June 9, 2018 Label: Matador Format: LP, CD, digital download, streaming | — | 20 | 11 | 43 | — | 10 | — | — | 20 |
| Valentine | Released: November 5, 2021 Label: Matador Format: LP, CD, digital download, streaming | 61 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 35 | — | 7 | 35 | 3 |

### Extended plays

| Title | Album details |
| Sticki | Released: May 8, 2015 Label: Dog Belly Format: cassette, digital download |
| Habit | Released: July 12, 2016 Label: Sister Polygon, Matador Format: Vinyl, CD, cassette, digital download, streaming |
| Snail Mail on Audiotree Live | Released: June 15, 2017 Label: Audiotree Music Format: Digital download, streaming |
| Spotify Singles | Released: June 29, 2022 Label: Matador Format: Streaming |
| Valentine (Demos) | Released: November 3, 2023 Label: Matador Format: Vinyl, digital download, streaming |

### Singles

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | US AAA | US Alt | Album |
| "Pristine" | 2018 | — | — | Lush |
| "Heat Wave" | 2018 | — | — | Lush |
| "Let's Find an Out" | 2018 | — | — | Lush |
| "The 2nd Most Beautiful Girl in the World" | 2019 | — | — | Habit |
| "Valentine" | 2021 | 23 | 32 | Valentine |
| "Ben Franklin" | 2021 | — | — | Valentine |
| "Madonna" | 2021 | — | — | Valentine |
| "Adore You" (Valentine Demo) | 2022 | — | — | Valentine (Demos) |
| "Easy Thing" | 2023 | — | — | Valentine (Demos) |
| "Tonight, Tonight" | 2024 | — | — | I Saw the TV Glow (Original Soundtrack) |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |||||

### Music videos

| Title | Year | Director |
| "Valentine" | 2021 | Josh Coll |
| "Ben Franklin" | 2021 | Josh Coll |