At long last, Lindsey Jordan’s Snail Mail is back with her second album, Valentine (Nov. 5, Matador Records), as well as the video for its opening title track and a 2021/22 world tour. To say Snail Mail’s Lush follow-up has been much-anticipated over the past three years is an understatement—her full-length debut landed on Paste’s lists of 2018’s best albums and songs both, and listeners have been clamoring for her next record ever since.
Jordan, 22, speaks to the elephant—or the snail, rather—in the room in a statement: “I wanted to take as much time as possible with this record to make sure I was happy with every detail before unleashing it unto y’all. Referring to the process as the deepest level of catharsis and therapy I have ever experienced would be a huge understatement. Valentine is my child!”
The album’s accompanying biography, written by none other than Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee), gives us an idea of what Jordan experienced while writing her new record, including “life-altering success, a painful breakup and six weeks in treatment.” It’s her heartbreak that comes to the forefront on “Valentine,” an aching ode to Jordan’s lost love that serves as a bridge between Lush’s guitar-driven approach and her new album’s more expansive instrumental palette. Over creeping synth and muted guitar riffs, Jordan is torn between clinging to her waning relationship and learning to let it go, demanding to know, “So why’d you wanna erase me? / Darling, valentine,” but adding, “You’ll always know where to find me / When you change your mind,” in the song’s explosive choruses. “I adore you,” she repeats as “Valentine” fades out, a feeling only time can assuage.
The cinematic, period drama-esque “Valentine” video (dir. Josh Coll), meanwhile, casts Jordan as the odd person out in a love triangle—she dresses and dances with the object of her adoration, only to soon see her cozying up to another. Jordan’s character copes by guzzling drinks and fistfuls of food, with the video whipsawing between her longing entreaties and utter dejection along with the song’s lyrics. Eventually, the romantic writing on the wall drives her to violence, as she seemingly snaps and dissociates, unable to wrap her head around her heartbreak. A bloodied Jordan and her love embrace in the clip’s final moments, slow-dancing together as if to a tune from happier times.
Jordan says of the “Valentine” video:
It was so rewarding concocting this video alongside the brilliant Josh Coll! Watching a few perverse images in my head metamorphose into this gorgeous storyline and eventually into a tangible visual was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. We connected over a mutual interest in the intersection between terror and devastating beauty. But also Tim and Eric and watered down ginger ale, which I had to drink a shocking amount of in those drink-bombing scenes.
Jordan wrote and produced Valentine alongside co-producer Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) in a small home studio in Durham, North Carolina, in early 2021, pulling together songs she’d written in 2019 and 2020. Jordan and Cook finished the songs in spring alongside the former’s longtime bandmates Ray Brown and Alex Bass, and engineer Alex Farrar, later adding a live string section to the record at Richmond, Virginia’s Spacebomb Studios. Crutchfield contributed backup vocals to “Ben Franklin” in addition to penning the Valentine bio.
Snail Mail’s world tour includes U.S. runs in the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022, with a U.K./E.U. leg sandwiched between them in February and March. Tickets go on sale this Friday, Sept. 17, at 10 a.m. local via the band’s website.
Watch the “Valentine” video below, and see the details of Snail Mail’s forthcoming album and her tour itinerary further down. You can preorder Valentine right here.
Valentine Tracklist:
01. Valentine
02. Ben Franklin
03. Headlock
04. Light Blue
05. Forever (Sailing)
06. Madonna
07. c. et. al.
08. Glory
09. Automate
10. Mia
Valentine Album Art:
Snail Mail Tour Dates:
November
27 – Richmond, VA @ The National*
28 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre*
30 – Orlando, FL @ The Beacham Theater*
December
01 – Tampa, FL @ The Ritz Ybor*
03 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn*
04 – Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & Mine*
05 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall*
07 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall*
08 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre*
10 – St Louis, MO @ The Pageant*
11 – Bloomington, IL @ The Castle Theatre*
12 – Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre*
13 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre*
15 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre*
16 – New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place*
17 – Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall*
18 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony*
19 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa*
21 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore*
February 2022
18 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy 2
20 – Glasgow, UK @ QMU
22 – Bristol, UK @ SWX
23 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
25 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
26 – Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
27 – Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv
28 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia
March 2022
02 – Zürich, CH @ Bogen F
03 – Munich, DE @ Ampere
04 – Dresden, DE @ Groovestation
06 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
07 – Gothenburg, SE @ Oceanen
08 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
10 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan
12 – Berlin, DE @ Columbia Theater
13 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
14 – Brussels,BE @ AB Ballroom
15 – Cologne, DE @ Gebäude 9
16 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord
April 2022
05 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer#
06 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer#
07 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre#
08 – Boston, MA @ Royale#
09 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda#
11 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre#
12 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre#
14 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre#
15 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue#
16 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall#
17 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater#
20 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre^
21 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre^
22 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom^
23 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom^
24 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater^
27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium^
28 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park^
29 – Mesa, AZ @ The Nile^
30 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf^
May 2022
2 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater^
3 – Dallas, TX @The Factory Studio^
5 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade – Heaven Stage^
6 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel^
7 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle^
8 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl – Nashville^
(* w/ Spencer & Hotline TNT)
(# w/ Joy Again)
(^ w/ The Goon Sax)
