Lindsey Erin Jordan (born June 16, 1999) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, who is a part of the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

solo project Snail Mail. Originally from

Ellicott City, Maryland Ellicott City is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its ...

, 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 Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City ap ...

, Snail Mail released her debut studio album, ''

Lush Lush may refer to: People Music * Lush (band), a British rock band * ''Lush'' (Mitski album), a 2012 album by Mitski * ''Lush'' (Snail Mail album), a 2018 album by Snail Mail * "Lush", a single by Skepta featuring Jay Sean * '' Lush 3'', a s ...

'' (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

, a suburb of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. Her mother is a lingerie store owner and her father works for a textbook publisher. Jordan had a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

band. Jordan also played hockey during her youth. As a teenager, Jordan became captivated by

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, originating from seeing

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band's lineup includes lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of ...

live on the ''

Riot! ''Riot!'' is the second studio album by the American Rock music, rock band Paramore. It was released in the United States on June 12, 2007, through Fueled by Ramen as a follow-up to the band's debut album, ''All We Know Is Falling'' (2005). The ...

'' 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 Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, 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 Screaming Females were an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey comprising Marissa Paternoster on vocals and guitar, Jarrett Dougherty on drums, and Mike Abbate on bass. They released their debut album ''Baby Teeth (Screaming Females a ...

and

Priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

. 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 A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

'' 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 A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' 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

Girlpool Girlpool was an indie rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed by friends Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad. Their debut self-titled EP ''Girlpool'' was released on Bandcamp in 2014 and re-released on Wichita Recordings later that year. They ...

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Kathryn Crutchfield (born January 4, 1989), known professionally as Katie Crutchfield, following the breakup of her previous band P.S. Eliot. The ban ...

and

Beach Fossils Beach Fossils is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2009. They are currently signed to Bayonet Records, having previously been signed to indie label Captured Tracks. The group's live band currently includes founder D ...

. In September 2017, Jordan signed a recording contract with

and performed her first

Tiny Desk Concert ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former '' All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music ed ...

for

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

. Snail Mail's first headlining tour began in January 2018. Snail Mail's debut studio album ''

'' 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 McBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco (born Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV; April 21, 1990) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has released five full-length studio albums: his debut '' 2'' (2012), '' Salad Days' ...

and Thundercat. In June 2019, Snail Mail released a new version of their song "Pristine" in

Simlish Simlish is a constructed language devised by game designer Will Wright for the '' Sims'' game series developed by Electronic Arts. During the development of '' SimCopter'' (1996), Wright sought to avoid real-world languages, believing that pla ...

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 Lois Maffeo (professionally known for much of her career as Lois) is an American musician and writer who lives in Olympia, Washington. She has been closely involved with and influenced many independent musicians, especially in the 1990s-era O ...

. 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 Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' 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 The Ottobar is a music venue in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. In 2018 the Ottobar was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. The ''Washington Post'' ...

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 Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre freque ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film ''

I Saw the TV Glow ''I Saw the TV Glow'' is a 2024 American psychological horror drama film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. It stars Justice Smith and Jack Haven as two troubled high school students whose connection to their favorite television show dri ...

'' as Tara, one of the protagonists of

TV show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

''The Pink Opaque''. She also contributed a cover of

the Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...

song " Tonight, Tonight" to the movie’s soundtrack.

Musical style and influences

Snail Mail's music has been described as

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

and

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

. While earlier Snail Mail releases were noted for their sparse,

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

guitar-driven sounds, ''Valentine'' embraced a richer sonic palette, incorporating

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s, strings and samples. Lindsay Zoladz of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' noted Jordan's unconventional sense of melody and a preference for "murky"

effects pedals An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion (music), distortion/overdrive, ...

, both exhibiting influences of 1990s indie rock. Her lyricism has been noted for its candid and introspective nature. According to Madison Desler ''of

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...

'': "Her music is laid-back, gently hooky, and complements the poetic

vagueness In linguistics and philosophy, a vague predicate is one which gives rise to borderline cases. For example, the English adjective "tall" is vague since it is not clearly true or false for someone of middling height. By contrast, the word " prime" ...

of her lyrics. There isn’t enough detail for you to know exactly what she’s talking about, but you understand the mood." 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 Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist and only constant member of the rock band Paramore, which she co-founded in 2004. Williams was born and raised in Meridian, Miss ...

Liz Phair Elizabeth Clark Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to sta ...

and

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

as her idols and major musical inspirations. Her other influences include

Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She released five albums from 1996 to 2020, all of which reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart. As of 2021, she has sold over ...

Cat Power Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a solo artist. Born in ...

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...

, My Bloody Valentine and Sheer Mag. Jordan has named

Mary Timony Mary Bozana Timony (born 1969 or 1970) is an American indie rock, independent singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, Bass guitar, bassist, and viola, violist. She has been a member of the bands Helium (band), Helium, Autoclave (band), Autocl ...

her favorite guitarist, and received guitar lessons from Timony herself. Other guitarists who had inspired her include

Marnie Stern Marnie Stern (born March 18, 1976) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. She has garnered acclaim for her technical skill and tapping style of guitar play. Stern was a member of The 8G Band from the show '' Late Night with S ...

Kurt Vile Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work, music released under the name "Kurt Vile and The Violators," and as the former lead guitarist of ...

, Steve Gunn and

Mark Kozelek Mark Edward Kozelek (born January 24, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and occasional actor. He is the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and was a founding member of the i ...

Personal life

Jordan is openly

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. In an interview with ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

'', 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 Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998) is an American actress. She began her career as a child and received recognition for playing List of The Hunger Games characters#Rue, Rue in the action film ''The Hunger Games (film), The Hunger Games'' ( ...

. Since 2022, Jordan has been in a relationship with Etta Friedman. She resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Notes

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snail Mail (Musician) 1999 births Living people 21st-century American women singers American rock guitarists American indie rock musicians American lesbian musicians American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters LGBTQ people from Maryland Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters Musical groups established in 2015 Musical groups from Baltimore People from Ellicott City, Maryland 2015 establishments in Maryland 21st-century American LGBTQ people Matador Records artists American women rock singers