"I got really into being scared of death and dying," says Lindsey Jordan of the gap between her second Snail Mail album and her new record, 'Ricochet'. It's an unusual hobby, but let's go with it.
This time around, Snail Mail is dealing with big ideas and big feelings. There's nothing bigger than mortality and the passing of time, and Lindsey's exploration deep within her existential soul makes this Snail Mail album operate on an altogether different spiritual level.
The theme of death and what it means to be alive started to crystallise in Lindsey's mind over the five years that she was working on this album on and off. She knew she wanted to operate on a more expansive canvas lyrically than the winsome romanticism of her previous albums, 'Lush' and 'Valentine'. "I wanted to use more imagery," she says. "I would love to use even more and maybe go a little more out of the box with it and also just, like, really try to make everything connect."
The connective tissue that helped spark her concept into life is the song 'My Maker', a dreamy, expansive rock song that poses big questions and meets the moment in scale and ambition.
"I wanted to use the lyric 'Above us, it's just sky'," she explains. "I saw that movie Synecdoche, New York, by Charlie Kaufman maybe four years ago, and it just sent me into a really crazy tailspin of, like, intense OCD. All I could think about or focus on was just worrying about death. I still struggle with it, but it's not what it was before. It's just something that lives inside of me."
With these feelings brewing up inside her, it was clear that the next Snail Mail album couldn't be about anything as trifling as teenage love in comparison. "I didn't want to write about romance or love, because I feel like I got comfortable doing that," she says.
A broader perspective on life helps make the songs here feel more rounded and dynamic, with a swirling mix of emotions. She might be asking a lot more questions, but she still hasn't yet found the answers, although she's putting in the work. "It's not a sage perspective," emphasises Lindsey. "But it's more than just writing in a diary and being like, 'What's gonna happen?', you know?"
"There's a fire inside of me that I can't seem to put out"
The album is full of the resonance of everyday life and growing up, how even the smallest of things can prompt the biggest feelings. "A lot of it is about the fragility of life and innocence," she says. "There are moments where it sounds like I'm talking to somebody, and I'm totally talking about myself as a teenager. It's also devastating how love and the things that make life worth living make the whole situation more devastating. I feel like more than ever, it's devastating for me to have a dog I love sometimes." That sense of being overwhelmed by emotions and the sheer power of life is common throughout the album.
When Lindsey first started making music as Snail Mail, she was 15. Now, ten years on, things feel very different for her, and you would imagine the fans who have grown up listening to her music. "It seems like mid-20s, a lot of people hit this point," she reflects. "Really getting existential in a gnarly way. I do try to be conscious of the fact that it seems like we have a fan base that started at the same age as me." As she has grown up as a songwriter, what Lindsey is looking for in songwriting has changed. "At my point in adulthood, I don't really care for a lot of wallowing lyricism or people," she says. "I really don't feel bad for myself in such a crazy way. I think that is relatable for a lot of people my age. Wallowing starts to feel really silly or just, like, dumb and useless."
Running parallel to her existential thoughts on life are the same questioning thoughts on her career and abilities as a songwriter. Fears that she had ten years ago have thankfully been swept aside by the fact that she is still here and can still write songs. "Even as a kid, I would think that there's only so many combinations of notes and chords that are personally satisfying to me. How much music can I make, and how much can I possibly say? I guess I've always been hyper-concerned with people's careers and how people's music starts to get bad. I'm always like, 'When does it, what happens? What happened to you?'" she laughs. "There are only so many songs that a human can make. So I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm still here."
Fortunately, that moment of going bad is far from arriving with 'Ricochet'. The album is satisfying on that pure indie-rock level but is illuminated by sonic flourishes, swelling string arrangements and a newfound lyrical depth and perspective that make it the best Snail Mail album yet. That newfound sense of perspective is partly explained by the experience she's had over the last ten years in the music industry, channelled here through a quite resolute rage. The song 'Cruise' has the line, "Sick with a rage I can't contain." So where has that rage come from?
"I've been a fiery person since I was born," she replies. "I'm really passionate, and I'm opinionated, and I think I have, unfortunately, in being in the music industry so long, developed a jadedness that I think is really uncool. I think it's uncool in others. I think it's uncool in me. I kind of feel like I have to consciously try to make myself feel more than just a jaded mess." Is she really angry at herself, then? "No. Like, in some ways I totally am, but a lot of stuff about the music industry makes me really, really mad. There's a fire inside of me that I can't seem to put out, and it's definitely not always entirely positive, but the rage is built up from spending so much time doing this."
Returning to the key song 'My Maker', Lindsey uses it to encapsulate the album and the vision behind it. "I've always had strong feelings and all these judgments in my head all the time about, like, 'Oh, I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't say that. Oh, you know, blah, blah, blah'," she says. "Okay, what if nothing mattered? If there is no heaven or hell, I can't base my whole life around thinking that I'm right, and also letting go of even thinking that there's a great judge in the sky."
All of these mini epiphanies and spiritual revelations make this the most emotionally fulfilling album for Snail Mail. "I think it's the most me," she concludes. "I felt like I had to go a little deeper inside of myself to even get started on this one. This is my biggest lyrical achievement. It definitely feels like my best representation of who I am." ■
Taken from the April 2026 issue of Dork. Snail Mail's album 'Ricochet' is out 27th March.
