When I looked into the crowd at The Fillmore Thursday night at the beginning of Snail Mail's set, everyone was laser-focused–locked in on singer-songwriter Lindsey Jordan and mouthing along to every single word.

Right now, you may be thinking, Yeah, duh, it's a concert, that's what happens.. but it was what I didn't see that surprised me–a shit ton of phones up in the air. There was emotion; connection–a group of people hearing songs that have narrated their lives performed live by the person who wrote them.

Since beginning her Snail Mail project at age 16, Jordan has been celebrated for her poetic, narrative-driven songwriting. In its review of Snail Mail's debut LP–2018's Lush–the perennially hard-to-please Pitchfork called the then 18-year-0ld "a leader in the next generation of indie rock."

The songs on Lush and its 2021 follow-up, Valentine, made an immediate impact on listeners navigating heartbreak, but Jordan’s unflinching honesty gave those experiences a language that resonated especially deeply with fans coming of age alongside her. Her inherent ability to connect with her audience continues on Snail Mail's recent album, March's aptly-titled Ricochet, but the album is also Jordan bouncing back and making music on her own terms.

In the five years since Valentine's release, Jordan–who has spoken openly about feeling pigeon-holed into the often misogynistic "sad girl" label–has taken back control of her narrative. "Now, as a 26-year-old, I feel like I'm doing everything exactly how I want to," she said in a recent interview with The Needle Drop. On Thursday night, the crowd was treated to all eleven tracks from Ricochet, where Jordan retains her signature lyrical precision while widening her scope–exploring everything from her early experiences as a teenager in the music industry, to confronting more existential questions, including that lightbulb moment we all have regarding our own mortality.

The eighteen-song set was a delight to witness. Evidenced by the ear-to-ear grin that spread across Jordan’s face after nearly every song, there is also a delight in performing them live, especially from where she stands now as an artist.

And by the end of the evening, I too stood there, as mesmerized as the fans in the front row.

Snail Mail. Photos by Conor Clancy.

Setlist

Tractor Beam
My Maker
Heat Wave
Hell
Speaking Terms
Nowhere
Dead End
Cruise
Headlock
Agony Freak
Glory
Butterfly
Valentine
Reverie
Light on Our Feet
Ricochet

Encore:
Thinning
Pristine