Lindsey Jordan is from Ellicott City, about 30 minutes away from me, so I admit to bias. She's been performing as Snail Mail for 10 years, and is one of the women defining indie music. My daughter Olivia and I saw her on 7/17/25 at the Prospect Park bandshell in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Bob Hair finds her to be pitchy in concert, and she started the show singing at the top of her voicebox before settling. But some of this is derived from her compositions, which often move from mid-tempo slacker rock to indie pop in the same song. Lindsey has had polyps removed from her vocal chords.
To me, Lindsey's message is not to seek validation from wasters and losers, or anybody. The mail is received. The audience knew the words to her songs. A good trick if you are only 25. On "Pristine," she implores "Do you like me for me?" But these are her people; she moved to Brooklyn some time ago.
The mix was tight. Drummer Ray Brown and bassist Alex Bass were clear to my ears. I haven't found the name of her other guitarist (left), but I noticed that between songs, he and Lindsey would switch to guitars with capos on the same fret.
Today's artists (or their managers) are smart and don't release too much music. There's no major label to please. There's no fakery with Snail Mail; it's like listening to a real person.
But the headliners were Dinosaur Junior. I like them coming directly through earbuds, but in Brooklyn they were just loud. DJ is from Massachusetts but they have the vocal approach of Drive By Truckers, who hail from Alabama. Olivia liked their sound, which surprised me.
Openers Easy Action got our metal on. No fakery there either.
