Without any nostalgia, Lindsey Jordan takes ownership of an alt-rock imaginary to transcend her melancholy, aided by her sharpened vocal mastery.
Upon first listen to Ricochet, a troubling impression settles of stepping into the soundtrack of a 1990s teen movie in the Clueless vein. But the naïve gleam of memory quickly darkens: there is something rotten in the realm of Dawson. The retro sepia postcard is soon swept away by the singer’s melancholy and the clarity of a young artist from the Baltimore suburbs.
Recorded with Aron Kobayashi Ritch (bassist for the band Momma), Ricochet is an album of self-awareness. Lindsey Jordan explores obsessions long kept at bay: the fear of time slipping away, death, the difficulty of loving without dissolving oneself. After Lush (2018) and Valentine (2021), Ricochet confirms Lindsey Jordan’s ability to enrich her universe with every album.
A restrained shoegaze, seen through a sensitive lens
Introspection remains central, but it rests on expansive, more crafted melodies than ever. The album conjures a 90’s alt-rock imagination—guitars that are both saturated and velvety like those of the Smashing Pumpkins, shoegaze textures à la Catherine Wheel—without ever yielding to pastiche.
The record particularly reveals Lindsey Jordan’s sharpened vocal mastery. The arrangements gain breadth without ever smothering the intimate: each track moves at its own pace, precise, metronomic. Snail Mail does not revolutionize her universe; she deepens it with maturity and accuracy. More than a nod to the nineties, a sensitive and lucid perspective asserts itself.
Ricochet (Matador/Wagram). Release on March 27.
