Snail Mail

By Jon Chattman
Photo by Tina Tyrell

There are times when Lindsay Jordan—known to the music world as Snail Mail—admits she’ll just find herself looking at her arms in the mirror and thinking to herself, “Cool.” The singer-songwriter and soon-to-be actress has 10 tattoos spread out between them, ranging from a cyborg on each tricep to cupid and her arrow to the falling men depicted on Elliott Smith’s self-titled album cover. Some ink is personal (a valentine named after her acclaimed sophomore album of the same name) while some is not (a weird structure of some sort she got in England—“I hate it, but it’s fine”), but it’s all part of what makes her who she is.

“I never pictured myself with tattoos,” she explains. “None of it goes into the image of myself, which is really confusing.”

Everything Snail Mail is doing of late is evolving, and there’s little confusion about it. The 23-year-old, who has been touring in support of her second full-length album “Valentine,” is just months away from curating her own five-day music festival in her hometown of Baltimore and will soon make her film debut in “I Saw the TV Glow” for writer/director Jane Schoenbrun. That barely scratches the surface of where she wants to head. Days after wrapping up a tour with fellow Baltimore “it rockers” Turnstile and moving back home with her parents, Snail Mail chatted with us about her ambitions, her ink, and auditioning to play Madonna.

Let’s talk about Valentine Fest. It’s literally a year in the making, probably more, because you had to delay it due to vocal surgery. What’s the format going to be?
The lineup has changed a lot. But, we thought it’d be so fun for the opener to be way more famous than us, and we’d just not tell anyone [who’s playing which night]. It worked. It sold out. The lineup isn’t done, it keeps changing. I think it’ll be three bands each night: legends we respect and new bands we’re excited about. It’s cool to do something for the Baltimore scene that’s done so much for us.

Is it weird to perform songs off “Valentine” since you wrote them pre-COVID?
The songs definitely feel like they’ve changed meanings as time goes on. They carry less emotional weight but I always feel the more I play live, the more I can mess with them and they evolve. It sort of points me where I want to go next musically.

Where are you going next musically?
I’m always sort of writing. My head is not in album mode but it’s always in the stay moving mode. I’m always working on a couple songs at once. As long as I’m working on something in increments all the time, at least I’m keeping my mind on the songwriting. I don’t want to just write a song to just write a song… I’m working some other avenues right now, messing with the movie world.

How are you messing with the movie world?
So I’m in an A24 movie—“I Saw the TV Glow.” I did an actual role in that, which is crazy, and I went through the audition process. I didn’t expect to have any type of chops, and in fact, who knows if I do? I haven’t seen it yet. It’s just fun and exciting. I want to see what I can do. Movies are up there for me with music. I think it’d be cool to write screenplays. I feel like the world is kind of my oyster right now and I want to take advantage of it.

Jumping back to the movie you’re in, is it something you sought out?
They hit me up. The same week I got asked to audition to be Madonna in the bio flick. I mean, I didn’t get it, but it was still just weird. I was never asked to be in anything but that week things came rolling in.

How bad did you want that part?
Oh my God… I’m a huge Madonna fan. I had to come up with a dance routine based on one of her music videos—I had to look at what she was doing but not imitate it, but be inspired by it. She’s a dance legend. I watched a documentary. I was watching interviews with her. I was taking notes and I had to do three scenes. It was a good learning experience. I didn’t think I’d get the role, but if I didn’t work hard I’d feel bad for not giving it my all.

Let’s talk tattoos. Which one was your first?
[Points to right tricep] A cyborg [I got] in a green room in Toronto. This girl hit me up on Instagram. Her designs were really cool. I went on tour with another band, and she was trying to tattoo them. She was like, “If you give me a guest list spot to the show, I’ll give you a tattoo.”

You were young at the time. Did you give a shit about what your parents might think?
It didn’t feel good to tell them. I almost got a tattoo of a devil. This is a Catholic household. I was in the studio, and I was like, “nah.” I couldn’t. My parents were not super happy but they were really [more concerned about me] getting a job, and I had a job. I came home with a couple more this time and they were like, “ugh,” but there’s not anything they could really do.

Do you go to the same tattoo artist all the time? Does each tattoo hold significant meaning?
I go to a bunch of different people, but the recent ones are with the same guy—Kyle England. Some have [significant meaning]. I have a little one that’s a Valentine from the ‘Valentine” release party. I have this “A Trip to the Moon” [tattoo] for the movie and Smashing Pumpkins. I just like how they all look together. I look especially on this arm [points to her right arm] and I spend a lot of time figuring out the placement.

Would you consider getting a sleeve since they’re all on your arms?
I feel like I have to be picky with my arms or I’ll run out of room when I’m 30. I never even wanted tattoos. One day I was like, “I want to take this leap” and I couldn’t stop. [Getting tattooed is] something I can do that’s not terribly harmful but it’s still sketchy.