Snail Mail

★★★★ Valentine

MATADOR. CD/DL/LP

Heart-shaped pop: heir of ‘90s indie tears into modern romance.

It’s complicated, of course. Lindsey Jordan’s second album as Snail Mail is full of love songs and death drives, sleeping on couches and wakeful nights, second guessing and third parties. There’s a reference to life “post-rehab” on the churning Ben Franklin; communication is not the only thing that breaks down (“We’re not really talking now,” sings Jordan with heart-breaking simplicity on Madonna). Yet despite the turmoil these songs describe, a flash of Elliott Smith-style emotional acuity every few seconds, musically

Valentine tells a different story. Building on the confidence of 2018 debut Lush, released when she was 17, Jordan shades the title track or Forever (Sailing) with synthesizer rushes and fades, while the blue country strum of C Et Al or Mia’s stringed swoon brighten the contrast with the title track’s abject daughter-of-Courtney fury. It’s complicated, yes, but what’s not to love?