Photo by Daria Kobayashi Ritch

The karmic irony of “Dead End” is that it sounds like it’s cut from a similar cloth as the material Liz Phair used to give herself a pop makeover some 20-plus years ago.

Phair, who released the ’90s indie rock classic, Exile In Guyville — a defining album within the Matador Records catalog years before inking with Interscope for that release — would be critically derided for the stylistic swerve, and yet, here we are today hearing a modern day Matador roster artist in Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan putting out music that sounds not too far away from those same straight-forward, pop-appealed songwriting ambitions after cementing herself in this generation’s indie corners behind the cultural impact of her 2018 debut, Lush, and 2021’s Valentine.

As Jordan puts it, her third studio album, Ricochet, contends with the reactionary effects of suddenly finding yourself in a place not whelmed with misery. There’s still plenty of unease to be felt there, but even a song about a relationship’s end benefits from the new found beginnings of a clearer perspective. That “Na-na-nanana-na” outro isn’t fooling anyone either — Jordan is embracing her own inner transformation outward, going from “Light Blue” to indie pop-rock fireworks.

Directed by: Elsie Richter & Lindsey Jordan

Snail Mail’s Ricochet will be released March 27th on Matador Records.