JORDAN: It’s such a funny thing to talk about because I’m so bad at making it happen for myself. How would you describe your songwriting process? Do you often sit down with the express purpose of writing a song or does it sort of just come to you? And the way the song starts, with that droning synth, I really like the way it introduced the record. And I wrote the chorus and the name immediately came to mind, and it just seemed perfect for the project - it was instant. The song didn’t really have a chorus, it was just hella verses. It wasn’t called “Valentine” until we got into the studio. “Valentine” was a ballad at first, it was called “Adore You.” The demo is really devastating and heavy, it’s not as much of a rock song. And I was like, What am I going to do because I have all these ballads?, which come easy to me. al” written and I had had them for years. When I was beginning to work on the songs that would actually shape the album, I already had “Light Blue” and “c.

LINDSEY JORDAN: I didn’t always envision it that way. Did you always envision this as the opening track and lead single? I feel like this is a good bridge between the new album and Lush. Read on below for a deeper dive into Valentine. The album is truly marvelous, and we got Jordan to run it down for us track-by-track. This new multifaceted approach to her lyrics is met with a fresh, expansive sound - there are still plenty of guitars on Valentine, but they’re bolstered by strings and synths and samples and a clearer, more direct usage of Jordan’s endlessly expressive voice. She pokes fun at the idea of always being the one jilted, sometimes turns herself into the one doing the jilting. Jordan is still singing about love and the lack thereof, but she does so with a newfound maturity and perspective. So goes the high-stakes melodrama of Valentine, an album that’s as much about heartbreak as it is about learning to move on from said heartbreak. “I’m like your dog/ Only I know you’ll be sweet if I stay.” “I guess I couldn’t keep her fire out,” she moans. “Who was I to ever want like this?” Jordan demands of herself in the chorus, her delivery guttural and then soft and then tragically undignified as the song descends into a coda where she grovels for attention, wishing that there was anything she could have done. As Jordan sings about the loss of control, the song blunders along with her her narrator watches as the love of her life pours out the “Jack and consequence” in a fiery rage. A flurry of acoustic guitars and stumbling piano builds to a driving chorus and simmers back down again. It encapsulates everything that Valentine gets so right. I must draw your attention to “Automate,” my frontrunner for rock song of the year (and not even a single!). She exhibits immaculate restraint throughout Valentine - the highs are high, and the lows sound oh so grand. By closing the door on the impassioned, intricate guitar wanderings of her debut, she’s opened onto a world that’s more vivid and precise and still, of course, passionate. Revisiting Lush, I miss all the new textures and tricks that are now in the Snail Mail arsenal. Lindsey Jordan has nailed the sometimes baffling follow-up to a prodigious debut. It’s the rare second outing that makes that promising debut sound almost flat by comparison, which is saying something considering Lush is sensational - one of the best albums of the 2010s. More often than not, the sophomore album represents an inevitable decline from a promising debut.

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