Writing and Photos by: Gabriele Esposito-Wilcock
Just days before the release of their debut album Pristine and the night before a sold-out headlining show in Brooklyn, Snail Mail opened up for Belle and Sebastian at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, Connecticut. Lindsey Jordan, founding member and creator of Snail Mail, and the rest of her band who make up Snail Mail brought the crowd to an honest place outside of earth with their music. The band brought us vocals that triumphed through heartbreak; sad sobering guitar tones with fun but still melancholy chords, bass that worked in conjunction with this mood, and drum beats that were slow but not too slow and helped guide the melancholy chords. Jordan really felt the music: all of the emotion showed on her face. For some songs, she was so intensely invested in the music and the feeling behind it that she played with her eyes closed. For their closing song, the band walked off stage and left Jordan with just her voice and guitar to close out the show. It was the perfect move to end the set. Snail Mail only played for forty-five minutes and I found myself wishing afterward that they would’ve played longer. Jordan and the rest of Snail Mail may still only be teenagers, but I found them captivating and beautiful.
