Single Review: Snail Mail - 'Heat Wave'

Snail Mail is the solo-project of 18 year-old Lindsey Jordan, forming in 2015 and releasing an EP in 2016 when the singer/songwriter was just 16 years old, she has already created more than many 20 something-year-olds can say they have. Late last month, she dropped the single ‘Heat Wave’, alongside a music video that you’d find hard to keep your attention away from. The single comes as the second from her debut album ‘Lush’, which will be released June 8th via Matador Records.

Opening up with a soothing guitar strokes, it’s not long before Jordan comes in with her dreamy angelic vocals that start the song off rather softly. As the song progresses, the soft guitar strokes turn into her shredding her way through the fret-board which makes for a much-welcomed sharp contrast that keeps things exciting. This tension backs the vocals really well and takes it away from sounding romantic and cutesy, and instead introduces more negative feelings of sadness and anger. Starting with “I’m so tired of moving on, spending every weekend so far gone”, straight away we are hit with the negative feelings.

The beauty of this track is the juxtaposition between the melodies and the lyrics. The melodies bring sweet summer vibes with huge pop-tones alongside rock, and almost has an 80s/90s nostalgic vibe about it, whereas the lyrics are everything but happy-pop and contain a lot more angst within them, closing off with “I’m feeling low, I’m not into it sometimes”. This is what makes Snail Mail stand out from every other young adult singing about love, and brings a refreshing sound to the scene. Listening to Heat Wave makes it so much less surprising that Lindsay Jordan has done so well considering her age, and the music video itself shows just how capable Jordan is of holding her own, where she’s faced with the task of defending herself on the ice rink against several bulked up men. The success is well deserved by bringing such a mature sound that sounds like it has experience to back it up, and has created a well-thought out single that is sure to be on many summer playlists in the upcoming months.

Words by Hayley Fearnley